


Keep It Professional

by mogirl97



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: (7 years so nothing too crazy and everything is legal i promise), AU where Felicity's dad is in her life, Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Bodyguard, College, Complete, F/M, Female Friendship, New York City, Slow Build, but there's still going to be lots of romance don't worry, plot that doesn't just center around the romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-09-15 16:10:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 121,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9243455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mogirl97/pseuds/mogirl97
Summary: When Felicity's parents announce that they're hiring someone to be her personal bodyguard, what she hears is that she's going to be stuck with a 24/7 babysitter... something she is so not on board with.When Oliver takes up the offer to work for the Smoak family he thinks it's just another job, but he has no idea what he's about to get himself into.Protecting the "tech empire heiress" is the easy part, matters of the heart are where things get a bit more complicated.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Thank you in advance for checking out my latest AU, I've been having a lot of fun writing this one and I hope that you will enjoy it! For this AU I really wanted to play around with a world where Felicity's dad was around and how that might affect her life. So just as a heads up, I've done a bit of changing things around with both Oliver and Felicity's backstories, but those changes get well explained throughout the story I promise. 
> 
> I want to thank my beta Aubrey, who makes sure that my chapters are readable before I post them and provides very important encouragement; Sara (gothsmoak.tumblr.com), who designed the amazing artwork; and also everyone on twitter who provides suggestions when I tweet out really random requests for help with stuff in this story :)
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy the story!

**APRIL**

_Starling City Rockets Set to Open their Season at Home this Weekend_

_City Hall Votes Unanimously in Favor of New School District Zoning_

_Tech Empire Heiress Felicity Smoak Spotted Exiting Table Salt with Mysterious Suitor_

“I wonder if Curtis is aware that, not only is he into girls, but he’s also my suitor,” she muttered as she finished her swipe through the news stories that had popped up that morning on her tablet, making a mental note to send a little virtual “present” to the author of said article. “ _Suitor._ What am I? The Duchess of Cambridge?”

“What honey?” her mom asked from across the table where she was flipping through a magazine while she ate breakfast. Donna Smoak was living proof that you can take the girl out of Vegas, but you can’t take the Vegas out of the girl. While she used to be a little bit embarrassed by the way her mom dressed and did her hair and makeup, now she appreciated the way that she hadn’t let the backhanded compliments, tossed out by women whose social circles she had entered when their family had started to move up in the world, turn her into someone she wasn’t. Her mom was classy and smart and well respected, and yes, she also happened to rock Hervé Léger bodycon dresses “at her age.”

“Nothing,” she waved her hand dismissively before reaching across the table for a muffin. “Just catching up on the exciting details of my life. I’m so relieved people are getting paid to keep me up to date.”

Her mom’s eyebrows furrowed, “Were people following you at dinner last night?”

Her mom had been getting that nervous look a lot lately and she really thought that it was rather unnecessary in this instance. For as long as she could remember there had been people taking her picture, wanting to get a quote they could splash across a headline, or making up ridiculous stories about her and her daily activities. It was rather unfortunate for the gossip loving people of Starling that their resident teenage billionaire was incredibly boring and had yet to do anything TMZ worthy scandalous with all her money and privilege, but the journalists truly did their best with what she gave them. Perhaps some of them should switch to writing fictional novels, they certainly possessed the creativity for it.

“Just the usual photographers who think my boring life is worth capturing,” she replied nonchalantly before taking a bite of her muffin. Blueberry, freshly baked. Caroline must be back from visiting her sister. She would have to remember to pop into the kitchen after work and ask if she had stayed caught up on Quantico while she was gone. And also if she would pretty please make her amazing lasagna for dinner some night this week. “You would have thought that people would’ve lost interest in me by now.”

“You’re rich and pretty. Haven’t you watched enough television? They’ll never lose interest.” Her dad entered the room, a teasing tone to his voice and she grinned as he came over and kissed the top of her head.

“Things should calm down in the fall though, right? I mean, in New York, you could walk down the street and bump into a cast member from Hamilton, so surely no one is going to care about me. And at MIT, I’m just going to be another student...” _Right?_

“Who on the weekends helps run a fortune 500 company that bears her last name,” her dad added pointedly as he sat down next to her mom and started to eat the breakfast that had been set in front of him.

When her mom had managed to convince her father to give up the line of work that had gotten him close to federal prison on more than one occasion, he had channeled his skills into a much more legal venture with his business savvy brother-in-law. That’s how Kuttler & Smoak had gotten its start thirteen years ago. Now they were the country’s leading software and application development company and also provided their cyber security services to many important companies and agencies, as well as celebrity clients.

From the day she’d stolen parts from her father’s study to build her own computer at the tender age of seven, her parents had known that she was going to fit right in to the family business. All throughout high school she had been shadowing her dad at the Starling headquarters and, come the fall, she would be attending MIT while taking on more responsibilities at the new east coast office in New York with her Uncle Daniel.

She sighed, “Good point.”

“This all actually leads into something your father and I have been meaning to discuss with you,” her mom began tentatively.

Her hand that was reaching for a second muffin, froze and she flicked her eyes back and forth between her parents warily. Her mom was being all business and serious, which was uncharacteristic of her and a little unnerving. This was probably not just going to be a chat about the little (not so little) charge she had put on the credit card last night when she was doing some online shopping at Nordstrom and whether or not she had bought anything she was going to want to borrow.

“We think it’s time that you have your own bodyguard.”

She blinked, “A bodyguard?”

It was hard enough for her to try to blend in and get people to treat her like a normal person when there was a high rise building in the middle of the city with her last name on it, having a bodyguard was certainly not going to help. It wasn’t like she was ungrateful for the privileges she had because of her family’s success, and she loved being a part of it with her role at the company, she just wished that all of that didn’t have to come with her own personal shadow in the form of some intimidating looking guy in a suit.

“Yes,” her mom nodded. “As you’ve gotten older, we’ve let you have a lot of freedom and independence because you’ve proven yourself to be mature and trustworthy, —”

“And yet you’re sticking me with a babysitter,” she interjected, annoyance bubbling up inside of her.

“Which means you’re no longer around us all the time and accompanied by the family security detail,” her mom continued, ignoring her interruption. “And for a while we let that slide, but with the privileges you have because of our wealth, there also comes necessary precautions. Especially with you getting ready to move in the fall, we have valid reasons for wanting someone to look out for you.”  

While she got the feeling that this bodyguard thing wasn’t up to discussion, she possessed every bit of her mother’s stubbornness and she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Her phone buzzed and she saw the text notification pop up on the screen.

**SARA: Pulling in now**

“What about what I want?” she asked, standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Because I don’t want a bodyguard. I’d like to avoid giving off the impression that I think I’m a Kardashian, so that people will actually want to be my friend.”

Throwing a tantrum was not going to help anything in this situation, especially since she had just been applauded for her maturity, but she had to admit it kind of felt good to storm out of the dining room dramatically.

“I’m riding to school with Sara,” she yelled as she walked down the hallway, not looking back at her parents.

She ducked into the passenger seat of Sara’s car and her friend turned to her with an amused expression on her face, “What’s got you all grumpy this morning? Have things turned sour with your new _suitor_? You should know that I laughed for a solid 5 minutes when I saw that.”

Rolling her eyes, she buckled her seatbelt, “I was out to dinner for a birthday party with a bunch of co-workers and Curtis just happened to be the one person who left at the same time as me. The even more laughable part is that he was telling me about his new boyfriend when they took that picture.”

Sara snorted, “You gotta applaud their dedication to reporting the truth. So what’s the real reason for that murderous look that was on your face when you walked out here?”

“My parents just broke the news to me that they’re setting me up with my own personal 24/7 babysitter,” she explained while Sara pulled out of the driveway.

“What?”

She sighed, “A bodyguard.”

“Oh. Why? Have you received threats or something?”

She hadn’t even considered that. There were always the general kidnapper types that were looking to make a good profit off of a billionaire daughter’s ransom, add to that the people her Dad had pissed off when he was a wanted criminal, and it was certainly plausible that there had been threats her parents had declined to tell her about. At the same time though, she had spent tons of time without her family’s security detail tailing her and nothing had happened to her. She didn’t want to start feeling paranoid now, and having a bodyguard seemed like it would just make her stand out even more as someone worth kidnapping.

“No,” she assured Sara. “They’re just being paranoid; so don’t you start worrying too.”   

“Oh I’m not worried; I know 3 different ways to kill people with my pinky finger. If someone wants to get to you, they’re going to have to get through me first. Your parents can just hire me as your bodyguard,” Sara teased.

The slightly scary part was that she probably wasn’t joking at all about the killing people with her pinky finger thing. Sara was into mixed martial arts and gymnastics and there was a 90% chance her superlative in the yearbook this year was going to be, _“Most Likely to Win American Ninja Warrior.”_

They were definitely an unlikely pair, but she couldn’t remember a time that they weren’t best friends.

She fished around in her bag for her lipstick, “Be careful what you offer. I’m pretty sure you don’t actually want to give up your Hollywood dreams just to follow me around all the time.”  

She had tried not to think about the fact that after graduation they were going to be going their separate ways, her to the East Coast and Sara to Southern California to work as a stunt double, but the closer that day got, the more she couldn’t avoid it being on her mind. It was probably the biggest thing keeping her from being 100% excited about next fall…. closely tied now with the recent addition of this whole potential bodyguard situation.

“Plus, I think your parents want someone who will keep you out of trouble, and we both know that’s not really my specialty,” Sara replied, glancing over and tossing her a wink.  

When they arrived at school, they parted ways to go to their own morning classes and Felicity did her best to forget about the bodyguard debacle and just focus on AP Chem. Before she even made it to lunch, five people had already stopped her in the hallway to comment on her “dinner date.” Granted, one girl just wanted to know where the coat she had worn was from (Burberry), but by the fifth person, she was contemplating taping a sign to her forehead that read _“I know what you’re going to ask, and no.”_

Even with all the unwanted inquiries into her love life, the day went by far too quickly and she was dreading heading over to the office to face her dad after her outburst that morning. He wouldn’t get mad at her, he never did. She supposed he felt her owed her that after going MIA for the first five years of her life, even if she didn’t really remember much from when he wasn’t around. No, he would be rational and calm and able to convince her that having a bodyguard was in her best interest, and she didn’t want to break her resolve in less than 24 hours.

On her way to where Sara’s car was parked, she spotted a familiar face standing by the car in the space to the left and she quickened her pace.

“John!”

He looked up and smiled as she barreled into him for a hug.

“Please tell me you’re here to let me know you’re going to be my bodyguard,” she mumbled into his chest, knowing it was just wishful thinking.  

John Diggle had been head of her family’s security detail for years. He was the one who carried her across the property to the house when Sara had tried to teach her how to do a back handspring and it had resulted in a twisted ankle. He was the one who had driven her to her first day of high school and surprised her with Big Belly Burger at lunch. He was the one she trusted completely with her life but never made her feel like she was incompetent to hold her own against the world.

Two years ago though, his wife Lyla had twins, so he resigned to run his own security firm and have more of a 9-5 life. Everyone on her family’s current security detail was contracted and vetted through him. She didn’t get to see him as often as she used to, so this was a nice surprise.

He chuckled and released her, “No. I don’t think Lyla would be up for moving the family across the country.”

Looking up at him, she sighed, “Worth a shot. So what _are_ you doing here?”

“Picking you up from school.” He walked around and opened the passenger seat door for her.

“Oh so I get to sit up front now?” she teased, sliding into the car and pulling out her phone to text Sara and let her know where she disappeared to. Normally she was relegated to the backseat when one of the family security staff was driving her somewhere.

“Well it’s either that or you’re wedged between two car seats,” he replied, closing her door before going around to get into the driver’s side.  “Lyla’s making chicken cacciatore for dinner.”

“Mmm,” she hummed approvingly. “I hope you’re telling me this because I’m invited.”

“Of course. I checked in with your dad and he said it would be okay for you to skip out on work this afternoon. The twins will be excited to see you.”

She raised an eyebrow in surprise, “I’m surprised dad’s letting go of an opportunity to talk me into the bodyguard thing…”

“Felicity,” John began tentatively. “It’s basically a done deal. I started interviewing candidates three days ago.”

She groaned, “Noooo, you’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am on your side, which is why I’m going to find the perfect person for you,” he assured her. “You trust me, don’t you?”

“Of course I trust you, I just wish my parents trusted _me_ a little bit more to not need a babysitter. It’s one thing to have all the security at home, the family detail shadowing us when we go out together, and occasionally have someone drive me somewhere. Having someone who’s just focused on me 24/7 seems so stifling.”

“If they’re good at their job, and I will ensure that they are, you won’t even notice that they’re around; but it will give your parents peace of mind. You know this isn’t because they don’t trust _you_ , it’s everyone else they’re worried about.”

“Have there been threats?” she asked, remembering her conversation with Sara from that morning and knowing that he wouldn’t hide the truth from her.

“Nothing that hasn’t been easily dealt with. _Yet._ But you have to remember that not only does your family have a lot of money, they also hold the keys to a lot of people’s important secrets. There’s a lot of information that you could be used as leverage to gain access to, should someone get any ideas. I know your Uncle has his own security, but what about when you’re in Massachusetts during the week? Sending you across the country without protection would be irresponsible of your parents, and me.”

She sighed, “You’re being very aggravatingly convincing.”

“Really? Because I haven’t even gotten to the _‘the twins will cry if something happens to Aunt Felicity’_ guilt trip part of my speech.” He glanced over at her with a knowing smile and she rolled her eyes.

She was starting to understand the necessity, but that didn’t mean she had to automatically like the idea of someone following her around all the time, stealing away more of the illusion of normalcy that she attempted in her life.

“You’ll find the _perfect_ person?” she asked quietly, looking down at her hands folded in her lap.

“I promise.”

* * *

 

“You asked to see me sir?” Oliver stepped into his boss’ office and he motioned for him to take a seat.

He had been working for John Diggle for almost a year now, primarily doing event security and occasionally subbing for some of the guys who were on personal security details, but he owed him a lot more than just employment. His first meeting with John had been the night that McKenna broke things off with him after her accident. He had run into him in the hallway at the hospital, apparently his wife was in labor and had made him leave the room for a bit because he was fretting too much and she needed to concentrate. They didn't talk for long and Oliver might have completely forgotten the encounter if it wasn't for the fact that three months later he ran into him again. This time it was at an outdoor concert in the park that some of his coworkers at the gym where he had been working at the time had dragged him to, that John’s company was doing event security for. It's a possibility that he might have gotten a little bit… wasted, and that resulted in him dumping his entire tragic life story on the poor guy. Two dead parents in the same year, dropping out of college to take care of little sister—something he never once regretted—but has now limited career options, still not over the girlfriend who dumped him three months ago, the works. John must have taken pity on him, because when he woke up the next morning, he found a business card for Spartan Security in his pocket with a note scribbled on the back. At first he had been a little reluctant to take him up on the job offer. After all, he had a decent job at the gym, but it had started to feel like a dead end of sorts for him. With Thea going to live with an Aunt and Uncle who had recently moved back into town, it seemed like as good a time as any to start focusing on moving forward with his own life again.

Quickly, he found that he liked working in security. He had always been a protective, albeit slightly reckless, person, and John helped him hone those instincts to make him into someone who would throw themselves in between danger and a person, even a complete stranger, effectively and without having to think twice about it. Having to take care of Thea at a young age had forced him to grow up fast in a lot of ways, probably way before he was really ready for that kind of responsibility, but the parts of him that were still an immature boy had been chipped away by this job. He liked to think he had become the kind of man his parents would be proud of if they were still alive; responsible, focused, dedicated.   

“You didn’t put your name in for the Smoak job,” John commented as he sunk into the chair across from him.

“I... umm…” He drummed his fingers on the desk. “I assumed you were looking for someone with more personal security experience. I know she’s pretty high profile.”

Felicity Smoak and her parents had been on the guest list at events he had worked, but he hadn’t paid her much special notice. However, it was hard to miss the big sign that said Kuttler & Smoak on the building that he drove past every day on his way to get to the offices. When John had put out the notice that he was taking applicants to be Felicity’s personal bodyguard, a lot of the guys had clambered at the chance to work for such an esteemed family. The fact that she didn’t seem to be the rich drama queen type who created a TMZ worthy scene every weekend that a lot of them had worked for in the past probably heightened her appeal as well.

“She is,” John affirmed. “She’s also very important to me, as important as my own family, which means I’m looking for a certain kind of person to protect her. That doesn’t necessarily mean the most experienced.”  

“Oh.”

“I’ve interviewed a lot of people over the last few days,” John continued. “And I don’t think any of them are the right fit.”

“And you— are you telling me this because you think I might be the right fit?” he asked, shifting in his seat.

John slid a file across the desk to him, “I want you to look this over and decide first for yourself if _you_ think you’re the right fit. And then I’ll let you know what I think. Okay?”

He nodded and picked up the file, “Okay.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so so much for the positive response to the first chapter last week! Your feedback is always appreciated and I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much :)

“So… Ollie. When are we going to get to the part where you talk to me about whatever it is you’re meaning to?” Thea asked as she absentmindedly dipped a french fry in her shake.

“Maybe I just wanted to have some Big Belly Burger with you,” Oliver replied. “Do I have to have some serious topic of conversation planned to do that?”

Thea gave him a look, “I’ve been your little sister for fifteen years, I can tell when something is on your mind.”

He let out a long exhale, “I might be up for a serious promotion at work.”

“Seriously?!” Her face brightened and she bounced in her seat excitedly, “Ollie that’s awesome! But why is the expression on your face making me think that’s maybe not so great?”

“This promotion… it requires moving across the country,” he explained, recalling what he had read that morning in Felicity’s file about her future plans on the East Coast.

“Oh,” Thea’s face fell a bit.

“I mean, it would just be me moving. You love living at Aunt and Uncle Dearden’s house with your cousins, and your whole life is here in Starling. Plus, this isn’t exactly the kind of job where I can be looking out for you too. It’s a personal bodyguard job.”

She raised an eyebrow in interest, “Oh? For who?”

“Felicity Smoak? I don’t know if you’ve heard of her, her family owns—“

Thea’s eyes had widened, “Felicity Smoak?!”

Amusement flickered across his face, “So you have heard of her?”

“Of course I have. Not only did she design like half off the apps on my phone, but her closet is to die for. They did a post about her on the Starling City Style site a couple weeks ago. She makes me want to be some ultra fab business woman when I grow up.” Thea’s face crinkled up in thought. “Although I guess she’s not really that grown up. She’s only in high school.”

“She’s graduating in a few weeks though, and then she’s going to be working at the New York offices for her family’s company and attending MIT in the fall,” he remarked, getting to the reason behind why he would have to move.

Thea sighed, “That is really far away…”

“It is. Which is why I wanted to talk to you about this before I took any more steps forward.”

It had been just him and Thea for years now, and he didn’t want her to think that he was abandoning her. The job wasn’t guaranteed or anything, but the more he read through Felicity’s file and thought over it, the more he wanted to at least present himself to John as the right man for it. But if Thea asked him to stay in Starling, he would.

Thea reached across the table and covered one of her hands with his, “You’ve taken really good care of this little family of two ever since—“ Her voice dropped to a sad whisper, “Ever since Mom and Dad died. After everything you did for me, I think it would be selfish to ask you to not go for something that could be the perfect job for you. You deserve a chance at this opportunity.”

He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, “Really?”

She nodded, “Really. And I mean, you’ll get to come home for her holiday breaks, right? So I’ll see you then, and maybe you can introduce me to her…”

He laughed, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves Speedy. I don’t have the job yet.”

Sliding out of the both, she grabbed her purse and rested her hand on his shoulder, “Well then I guess you should be talking to Mr. Diggle right now instead of me.”

After he had dropped Thea off at his Aunt and Uncle’s and made it back to his apartment, he pulled out his phone to make the call, “John?”

“Yeah Oliver?”

Taking a deep breath, he gave the answer to the question he’d been asked that morning, “I think I’m the right fit for the Smoak job.”

There was a brief pause before John replied, “I was hoping you’d say that. You good to start tomorrow?”

His eyebrows raised in surprise, “Wait, that’s it? I got the job? What if she doesn’t like me? Or—“

“She’s not going to like you,” John interjected, a hint of amusement in his voice. “She wasn’t going to like anyone that I hired, but she’ll probably dislike you the least out of everyone I interviewed. She’s not exactly completely on board with this whole situation.”

“Oh.” Suddenly he was wondering what he had gotten himself into.

“However, I trust you, more than anyone, to keep her safe,” John continued. “Which is my number one priority. It’ll be up to you if you want to convince her not to hate you.”

“I—uhh…” He looked down at the open file he had sitting on his counter and gave himself a chance to change his mind. On top of the stack of papers was a picture of the entire family, with the young woman in question in the middle beaming up at him, and he found himself smiling too. There was just something about her that he was drawn to, even with John’s warning that she might pose a bit more of a challenge than he’d originally thought. “I guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow then.”

* * *

 

“What time did John say they were getting here again?” Felicity called out to her mom who was reclining on the couch in her room while she was in the bathroom finishing her makeup.

After she had gotten back from dinner the other night at the Diggle house, she had been in an exponentially better mood and had apologized to her parents for her outburst at the breakfast table. Her dad had shrugged it off, just as she had expected, and her mom had been fine after they shared a pint of mint chip while she obliged her to a late night marathon of her favorite (terrible) reality television shows that she had DVR’d. (Honestly she was pretty certain if producers showed up wanting to do “Real Housewives of Starling City” her mom would be the first to sign up.) And so concluded the rift with her parents over the bodyguard issue. Now that it was a done deal, she would have the guy himself to take her frustration out on and she felt like that would be way more satisfying anyway. John had refused to give her any details on the guy he had hired, even after she threatened to hack into his database and snoop around—

_“Oh John, I designed that system. It wouldn’t even be hacking, more like walking right in.”_

_“Just trust me, okay?”_

\--and so she had decided to just let herself be surprised by whatever walked through the door that morning.

“8:15,” her mom replied, walking over to stand in the doorframe. “So you have twenty-five minutes.”

She sighed and leaned in closer to the mirror to curl her eyelashes, “What if I don’t like him?”

“You’ve already made up your mind to not like him, sweetheart. And that’s fine, your relationship will be strictly professional, he’s not auditioning for the role of your best friend—”

“That’s already taken,” Sara called groggily from where she was still lying in her bed from their sleepover the night before.

“Are you planning on meeting him in your pajamas?” Felicity asked, poking her head out the bathroom door.

“Just five more minutes mom,” she whined, ducking under the covers.

She rolled her eyes and returned to the mirror to check that her ponytail was neat. Finding it satisfactory, she exited the bathroom and ripped the comforter off of her bed.

“Time to get up Sleeping Beauty. I need you for moral support.”

Sara begrudgingly rolled out of bed and grabbed her clothes out of her backpack.

“I’m heading downstairs,” her mom announced, slipping out the door. “Please be in the living room by 8:15.”

She sunk into the couch, bouncing her leg nervously, while she waited for Sara to change. She trusted John entirely to make a good decision for her, but she would still feel less anxious once the introductions had been made.  

At 8:13, she and Sara scrambled down the stairs to be sitting in the living room before John arrived with the mystery man.

“How do you know it’s not a woman?” Sara asked, as she took a seat in one of the wingback chairs in the corner of the room.

“John said ‘he’ on the phone multiple times or else I might have considered that a possibility,” she replied, settling onto the couch next to her mother. “It’s definitely a guy.” She looked around the room, “Where’s dad?”

“A client requested a meeting with him last minute this morning,” her mom explained. “He left for the offices a few minutes ago.”

“I can ask the dad questions,” Sara offered from behind them. “Sir, what will you do—” She coughed and lowered her voice, “what will you do if a young man is trying to engage with my daughter in an untoward manner?”

She twisted around to shoot her a glare, “I thought we already established that this guy is not my babysitter.”

Sara grinned, “Silence from the peanut gallery then.”

She turned back around and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in her dress before Caroline appeared in the entryway to the living room, “Your guests have arrived.”

“Would you please bring them in?” her mom replied and Felicity sat up a little straighter.

She wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt so worried about how she was presenting herself when he was the one who needed to make a good first impression. Relaxing against the back of the couch, her eyes darted back over to the entryway at the sound of approaching footsteps.

John walked in and following him was—

“Hot damn,” she heard Sara whisper faintly from her corner and, if either of the men had heard her, they didn’t let it show.

Of all the possibilities she had imagined last night while she was lying awake staring at the ceiling and unable to sleep, the man who entered with John was unlike any of them. He looked young, far younger than anyone who was on their family security detail, and— wow he was gorgeous. Not quite as broad and muscular as John, but still statuesque, with a strong jawline that was rough from a day or two of skipping a shave and eyes that were a mesmerizing blue.

_Mesmerizing blue?_

_Really Felicity?_

_You deserve to have people writing about you having_ suitors _if your mind goes straight to this romance novel crap when you see a semi-attractive guy._

She blinked and refocused herself on the present moment, standing up for John to make the introductions.

“Felicity, this is Oliver Queen.”

Oliver gave her the slightest of smiles before his face returned to being impassive, and extended a hand to her.

She shook it, “Nice to meet you Mr. Queen.”

_Not really though, seeing as your presence in my life is unwanted._

“Likewise Miss Smoak,” he replied in a formal tone.

It must come with the job title to be so stoic, he was not unlike all of the guys currently on her family’s security detail in that regard. She supposed that no personality was preferable to having someone with an annoying personality always following her around. They settled down onto the couches and Felicity could tell by the look on her mom’s face that she had the same opinion of Oliver as Sara. She did her best to hold back an eye roll as she turned her attention to John.

“I gave him a file on you that was pretty thorough, but is there anything that you want to discuss?” he asked her.

“Not particularly,” she muttered, wanting to just get this over with and move on with her day.

Her mom elbowed her in the side not-so-subtly and spoke up, “Well I have a question for Mr. Queen, if that’s alright?”

Oliver and John both nodded and her mom continued, “How long have you been working in private security?”

“I started working for Spartan Security about a year ago, and Miss Smoak will be my first individual client,” Oliver admitted and Felicity lifted an eyebrow at John in surprise.

She thought he would have gone for someone more experienced and wondered what was so special about this guy that he was confident in putting her safety in his hands.

“Mr. Queen has been an excellent employee for me and takes his responsibilities seriously,” John vouched. “I wouldn’t have considered him for this position if I didn’t have confidence that he was the best man for the job. You should have no concerns about entrusting him with your daughter Donna.”

Her mom smiled, obviously satisfied with that response, “Thank you John.”

Felicity glanced up from where she had been absentmindedly fiddling with one of her bracelets and caught Oliver looking intently at her.

“Why did you want this job?” she blurted out, and he looked a little startled by her sudden interest in him.

“I— I umm…”

“You can say ‘the paycheck,’ I won’t be offended,” she supplied with a shrug and thought she saw the faintest hint of amusement pass over his face.

“I originally didn’t even apply for it actually, but John approached me about it and I realized that I wanted to take on a challenge Miss Smoak. I have a feeling you’re going to give that to me,” he deadpanned and she heard Sara choke on a laugh behind her.

She held back the smile that was threatening its way onto her face unwittingly and replied, “If it will be a challenge for you to make your unwanted presence undetectable to me, then yes.”

“Felicity,” her mother chastised.

“What? Isn’t this what we’re supposed to be discussing in this meeting? I’m just making the expectations clear for Mr. Queen. I agreed to this bodyguard setup on the condition that I wasn’t going to even notice I had one.”  

“I was already made aware your feelings regarding this situation, and I will do my best not to impede upon your life unnecessarily,” Oliver promised sincerely, and she felt a little embarrassed that she had been so snarky. It seemed John had hired someone who was exactly what she had asked him for.

“Good. Then I think we’re done here,” she remarked, standing up to make her escape. Caroline had promised there would be chocolate chip pancakes waiting for her as a reward for surviving the dreaded meeting, and she was ready to make a beeline to the kitchen. “I’m planning on stopping in at the office after breakfast, I’m assuming you two will be tagging along. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

She shot Sara a look and she scrambled out of her chair to leave the room with her.

“You must be Miss Lance,” Oliver commented and Sara gave him a bewildered look.

“Uhhh… yeah.”

“You were mentioned in the file John gave me on Felicity,” Oliver explained.

“Oh?” Sara crossed her arms over her chest and got that look in her eye that Felicity recognized as her “I’m about to flirt” face.

And that was so not going to be happening.

“Cool,” Felicity interrupted, pushing Sara out of the room. “We’re going to go eat breakfast now.”

Her mother trailed them out into the hallway, “Did you have to be so rude?”

“I’m sorry.” She sighed, “I guess I’m just still a little uncomfortable with all of this. But what does it matter anyway? You said it yourself that he’s not here to be my best friend; I don’t have to like him and he doesn’t have to like me. He seems like he’ll do the job just fine and that’s what’s important.”

“Plus he’s hot,” Sara added. “In case you didn’t notice that. He’s super-hot.”

Her mom pursed her lips, “He is a rather attractive young man.”

“Try not to forget that he’s mine,” she pointed out, before hastily clarifying, “My bodyguard, I mean.”

“Oh so now you want to lay claim to him,” Sara teased.

“Now I want to eat breakfast,” she grumbled, continuing to walk to the kitchen.

* * *

 

“Well I guess that went about as well as I was expecting,” Oliver commented to John when the women had vacated the living room.

“She’s not even eighteen yet and she’s got more on her plate than most adults. While she’s figured out how to handle it all brilliantly, in a few months everything is going to be flipped upside down.” John sighed, “Not that she’ll ever admit it, but I think that all of the upcoming changes in her life are starting to scare her a little. Right now, you’re just another reminder of all that; I wouldn’t take it personally.”

“I was the sole caretaker of my little sister while she was experiencing middle school angst on top of a lot of grief,” he reminded him. “At this point, I am an expert at not taking things personally.”

John smiled at him reassuringly, “I wouldn’t have picked you for the job if I didn’t think you could handle it. While we wait for her to be ready to head over to the offices, I’ll give you a tour of the house. You looked over the blueprints I gave you?”

He nodded, “Yes sir.”

They stood up and he followed John out into the hallway to walk through the expansive home, mentally cataloguing every room and door and window. Several men kept watch over the family when they were at home, but in case of an emergency, he wanted to make sure he could get to her quickly no matter where she was in the house. John had given him a briefing on what kinds of threats had already been received against her, and what they could anticipate in the future because of her family.

He didn’t know the exact protocol for being a bodyguard, event security and his other gigs had been entirely impersonal, but he figured it was probably for the best that she was, to put it mildly, indifferent towards him. It would make it easier for him to stay focused on his job of keeping her safe if he didn’t have to try to be her friend too. Getting her to not hate him seemed to be about as simple as staying out of her way.

Once they made it through the house and back to the foyer, Felicity appeared with a large tote bag in hand, “I’m ready to go to the office now. Can we drop Sara off at home first?”

“Of course, we’ll bring a car around,” John replied, leading him out the door and towards the exterior garage.

Inside was a wide assortment of cars and John unlocked a black Rolls Royce, commenting, “She hates this, but her Mini Coop is just not built for someone my size…. or yours.”

Oliver looked over at the little red car that John was pointing out and laughed, “Yeah I don’t think we’d all be fitting in there.”

“She got it for her 16th birthday and I think I can count the amount of times she’s driven it on one hand,” John remarked, sliding into the driver’s seat of the Royce. “She likes being driven around so she can get work done en route.”

He got into the passenger’s side, “So don’t attempt conversation with her when I’m driving her places, got it.”

“Were you planning on attempting conversation with her ever? Wouldn’t that be ‘impeding on her life unnecessarily?’” John asked, echoing his words from earlier with a hint of amusement in his voice, as he pulled up to the house.

“You said it was up to me to decide if I wanted to convince her not to hate me,” he pointed out. “It seems like the best way to convince her not to hate me is to leave her alone as much as possible.”

“Probably, but that’s taking the easy way out. I thought you were up for a challenge?”

He glanced over at him, “I uh—“

“One of the reasons that I knew you would be right for this job is because you’re a good big brother to Thea. I know that right now Felicity thinks she wants you to be an invisible shadow, but give her some time to warm up to you and she might come to actually appreciate having you around.”

They were interrupted by Felicity and Sara approaching the car and he hopped out to open the door for them. Felicity’s head was down looking at her phone but she gave him what he thought might be an appreciative grunt as she slid into the back seat, Sara following behind and giving him a small smile.

After dropping Sara off at her house, John started into the city towards Smoak & Kuttler.

“Give me your phone.”

It took him a second to realize that Felicity was talking to him and he looked down to see that she had reached her hand forward in between the two front seats, her palm facing up expectantly.

“Am I allowed to ask why?” he questioned tentatively, slipping it out of his pocket.

“I’m just syncing your calendar with mine,” she explained in a tone that was laced with ‘duh.’ “I follow a pretty routine schedule, but this way you’re always in the loop since I’m not allowed to go anywhere without you. Unfortunately.”

He wasn’t going to bother to respond to that, but then he heard John’s voice echoing in his head, _“I thought you were up for a challenge?”_

“Not true. I promise not to follow you into the bathroom,” he replied dryly, dropping his phone into her hand and he heard John cough to disguise a laugh.

He flicked his gaze up to the rearview mirror and saw her bite her lip to hide a smile as she fiddled with his phone, before returning his eyes to the road ahead of them while John weaved a route through the busy city streets.  


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you again for all of your comments and kudos on the last chapter! It's a nice distraction when I'm drowning in schoolwork to have a comment pop up and knowing that you're are enjoying the story really encourages me to keep writing for y'all, even with my busy schedule :) Speaking of busy schedules... this week's chapter is a little peek into a normal day for Oliver and Felicity, enjoy!

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP—

“I hear you,” Oliver growled, reaching for his phone to turn off his alarm and scrubbing a hand down his face to try to clear the grogginess.

When his feet hit the floor to head for the bathroom, the clock showed 4:02 am. Discipline was something he had struggled with in his younger years, but ever since he was thrust into adulthood by his parent’s passing, he had found comfort in routine and structure. He was in the middle of his second week of working for Felicity and he had gotten his routine into sync with hers, but that meant waking up at a time that was long before the sun had even cracked the horizon.

The first thing on his daily agenda was the gym.

He made the quick drive from his apartment to his former place of employment and pulled in next to the car belonging to the only other person crazy enough to be here at 4:31am.

“Oliver!” The soft, familiar voice called out in greeting when he walked through the door. “You’re late.”

“A minute—“ He checked his watch, which now read 4:32am, “Two minutes late. Felicity was at the office until midnight again last night, it was a little rough getting out of bed.”

Shado walked over and rested her small hand around his forearm, “You know you could have cancelled if you needed to sleep in a little.”

He shook his head, “No, it’s okay. I need this. It starts my day off right.”

She smiled up at him and directed him over to the corner where she had things set out for his training session.

When he had left college and first started looking for a job to provide for him and Thea, Jade Dragon Fitness had been looking for a desk attendant. That’s how he had gotten his start at Shado’s father’s gym, and eventually he had moved up to being an assistant manager. Even after he left to go work for John, he had still stuck to his daily sessions with Shado. Now more than ever, it was important that he stayed in peak physical condition.

He wasn’t quite sure how she managed to put him through the wringer every day in the 30 minutes he could spare for working out, but that’s why she was the professional.

“So how are things going with the new job?” she asked as he was running a set of sprints on the treadmill.

“You—want—to—ask—me—that—now?” he panted.

“Sorry,” she laughed. “Just focus on not flying off.”

Once he had completed his set and gulped down his water, he answered her question, “It’s going well. I like the consistency of it versus different jobs every day like before, and she’s actually a pretty interesting person to get to follow around. Things were a little rough in the beginning, but I do my best to give her as much space as possible, and I think she’s starting to get over some of her disdain for the situation.”

He was giving her time to warm up to him like John had advised and she wasn’t nearly as brusque as she had been on his first day, but he knew she would still rather him not be around. The notion that she might eventually appreciate, and not just tolerate, his presence seemed pretty unlikely. His sole concern though was keeping her safe, and, despite it being with some reluctance, she wasn’t trying to impede on his ability to do that.

“Good. I know when you came in the morning after your first day you weren’t so sure if you had made the right choice, so I’m happy to hear that this is working out for you Oliver. Although I’m going to miss you stopping by in the mornings when you move.”

“I’m going to miss you too. Plus, I don’t think I’ll be able to find as good of a trainer,” he lamented. Even though he knew that the move was inevitable when he signed on for the job, he wasn’t quite ready to think about how he was going to have to establish a whole new routine for himself.

She waved a hand dismissively, “Nonsense. You will, but I can also write out some workouts for you to do on your own. Now, I have one Tabata circuit set up for you to finish with and then I’ll let you go.”

After he had finished at the gym, he rushed back to his apartment to shower, change into his crisp suit, and double-check that he had everything he needed for the day before driving over to the mansion.  Arriving at 5:48am, he got cleared through the security checkpoint at the driveway and pulled around to the garage to park. When he entered the house, he made a stop at the kitchen where Caroline had a breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon waiting for him with a mug of coffee that he gratefully accepted. He swallowed past the knot that often formed in his throat when he was around her. Her sweet, motherly tendencies made him ache for his own mom. He had always been close with her and he had wished over and over again since her death that he could still talk to her, especially now that he was taking on something so new and different with his life. Her gravestone just wasn’t the same.  

“How are you this morning Mr. Queen?”

He paused from shoveling down his food hungrily, “Caroline, we’re on the same level of the payroll, I think you can call me Oliver.”

A faint blush rose on her cheeks, “Right. Of course, Oliver.”

“I’m doing well,” he answered in response to her initial question. “A little tired from the past few late nights though.”

“Mmm,” Caroline clicked her tongue. “She’s a workaholic that one. You’re going to have to make sure she doesn’t burn herself out when Miss Lance and I aren’t around to keep an eye on her and make sure that she does something fun every once in awhile.”

“I’ll do my best,” he promised, rising from his seat and taking his coffee with him. He wasn’t sure that was in his job description, definitely not the one that Felicity had spelled out for him, but what else could he say to her? “Thank you again for breakfast.”

On his way to the living room to wait for Felicity to be ready to leave for school, he ran into Sara who was slipping in through the front door.

“Morning Mr. Queen,” she greeted him quietly to avoid disturbing anyone who was still asleep.

“Good morning Miss Lance,” he replied, before raising an eyebrow curiously. “Do you spend very much time at your own house?”  

She shrugged, “My sister is away at law school, my dad is the SCPD Captain and always working, and my mom took off a few years ago. I don’t like being home alone that much, so if I’m not at school or practice, and my Dad isn’t home, I’m probably here.”

He nodded in acknowledgment, his friend Tommy had been the same way when they were growing up, and continued his walk to the living room as she headed in the direction of the dining room. Settling into one of the chairs by the window, he pulled out his current book selection, The Sorcerer’s Stone, per Thea’s insistence, from his duffel. Whenever he didn’t need to be on alert, like in the window between his arrival at the mansion in the morning and Felicity being ready to start her day or when she was in school, he liked to read to pass the time.

He made it through three chapters before he heard the telltale click of heels on the hardwood floors that signaled his charge had made it downstairs for the morning—he checked his watch—only 15 minutes later than normal. Which was impressive considering how exhausted she had been when they had finally made it back to the mansion after her long day yesterday.

Three more chapters later, she peeked her head into the living room, “I’m ready to go Mr. Queen.”

* * *

 

She tapped her toe impatiently as she watched the final sixty seconds of her last class period of the day tick down aggravatingly slow. They had finally made it to the last week of school before final exams and then graduation, but it was sure taking its good old time getting to the end. It didn’t help that she was exhausted and the third cup of coffee for the day that she was currently sipping was not having much effect. Between studying for finals and putting in extra hours at the office familiarizing herself with a lot of the projects and clients she would be handling once she started at Smoak & Kuttler East, she was running on a lot less sleep and a lot more caffeine than she preferred. The sooner she could take high school out of the equation, the happier she would be. She could have graduated earlier if she wanted to, her guidance counselor had advised that she pretty much skip middle school entirely, but she was already young for her grade, having a late July birthday, and she wanted to graduate with Sara. On days like this, she seriously hoped being able to toss her graduation cap in the air with her friends would be worth having to sit through an extra year or two of school than she needed.

Finally, the bell rang and she popped up out of her seat in relief. Slinging her tote over her shoulder, she fell into step with Sara outside of her classroom and they walked out to the parking lot to meet Oliver at their normal spot.

Sliding into the backseat of the car once Oliver had opened the door, she slipped her heels off and set them on the middle seat while she wiggled her pinched toes.

“Why did you wear those to school?” Sara asked, buckling her seatbelt. “You only have like 900 pairs of shoes, some of them have got to be more practical.”

“But these look the best with this dress,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Besides, they’re not that impractical for me. I might have gotten my brains from my dad, but I got my ability to handle a good pair of heels from my mama.”

One of her mom’s favorite pictures was one she had taken of her at the age of eight when she had gotten caught in her closet wearing one of her dresses and a pair of heels far too big for her with a grin on her face.

_“So she is my daughter too!”_ her mom had declared triumphantly as she proudly snapped the picture that still sat on her dresser.

There were actually a lot of traits, far beyond her affinity for heels and pretty dresses and pink lipstick, that could be attributed to her mom, even if it seemed like she was her father’s daughter through and through. Her dad might have been the criminal, but her mom was the tough one; her stubbornness, her strength and resilience, she got those characteristics from her.

“Do you think your mom will let me tag along when she takes you to get a pedicure? Because there’s no way she’s going to see those toes and not immediately book appointments for the spa,” Sara commented.

She looked down at her chipping robin’s egg blue polish and sighed, “I better make sure I wear socks when I’m at home then, I don’t know when I’ll have time for a spa day. Things have been a little crazy lately.”

“I know.” Sara reached for her hand, “But also try to remember that I’m moving in less than a month now, so I’d like to actually see my best friend a little bit between now and then. And I’m not allowed to hang out at your office since the lamp incident.”

Felicity giggled as she recalled Sara doing a backflip off of her couch and accidentally sending a lamp flying through one of the glass walls surrounding her office, effectively shattering it into a million tiny fragments. She wasn’t technically banned from the building, but the maintenance people were probably relieved that she chose to steer clear of the place.

“I’ll make time for us to hang out,” she promised. “Besides, I already said I would go to—“ She wasn’t sure if Oliver had tuned out this conversation yet, but to be on the safe side she just mouthed, “The party.”

Sara narrowed her eyes in confusion and she tilted her head towards Oliver subtlety before silently repeating herself.

“Oh,” Sara mouthed back and nodded in acknowledgment.

She was still trying to figure out how she was going to ditch Oliver to attend Katie Bowen’s finals week afterparty that she had somehow got coerced into agreeing to go to, but she was definitely not going to go if he was tagging along. There was no way she could just act like she was a normal high schooler for a night if she had her bodyguard slash babysitter watching over her the whole time.

If Oliver was confused by the sudden silence in the back seat, he didn’t give any indication, and they dropped Sara off at the gym for her gymnastics practice before heading for the offices.

“I’m not going to be here as late tonight,” she promised as they walked through the rear entrance. “Three people today asked me if I was ill, which A, is rude, and B, means that not even the best concealer money can buy is enough to hide the fact that I haven’t been sleeping much.”

One of the pros of having someone following her around was that now when she talked to herself, she didn’t look like a crazy person. I mean, technically she was talking to him, or at least directing her words towards him, but it wasn’t often that he provided much of a response, so it was basically the same as talking to herself.

In the elevator they ran into her father who was on his way up to the executive floor as well.

He nodded in greeting to Oliver before looking at her, “Hi sweetheart, how was school?”

“Long,” she lamented. “Boring.”

“Well I have something waiting for you on your desk that might help with the boredom,” he remarked. “I had a meeting this morning with Dr. McGee from Mercury Labs over in Central City, and she wants us to do a full revamp of their research database security. I thought it might be something you would be interested in looking at.”

She nodded eagerly, even as she knew that meant her plans of leaving the office early were probably not going to manifest now. Whatever, sleep was for the weak. “Yes, definitely. Thanks Dad.”

“You’re welcome, have fun.” The elevator doors opened and they parted ways, Oliver trailing behind her silently as she waved hello to her assistant before entering her spacious office.

On her desk was the promised file for the Mercury Labs job and a USB drive with the entry key to get her into their database remotely. Burying herself in her task, she didn’t emerge until a few hours later when her assistant was trying to get her attention.

“Miss Smoak?”

She ripped her eyes away from her screen and blinked up at her, “Yeah?”

“Is there anything else you need me to do, or may I go home for the night?” She looked down shyly, “My boyfriend made dinner plans.”

Looking over at the clock, she exhaled in surprise at 7:00pm flashing back at her, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize how late it had gotten. Of course, you can go. Have fun!”

“Thank you,” she smiled gratefully before shuffling out of her office.

The mention of dinner made her realize how hungry she was and she grabbed her bag to search for some food. Sometimes Caroline snuck snacks into it because she knew she often forgot to think about eating when she was working on something particularly exciting or challenging. Striking out, she picked up her phone to order some takeout. She knew that she should really just go home, she could already feel the headache she got in between her eyes when she was overworking herself starting to intensify from the dull ache it had been all day, but she wanted to make a little more progress on the Mercury Labs project before she called it a night.

She started to dial for Big Belly Burger when Oliver spoke up.

“Can I ask you a question?”

She looked up from her phone in surprise, as it was almost never that Oliver initiated conversation with her. He wasn’t facing her, rather looking at the Smoak & Kuttler logo that was on the wall beyond the glass panes of her office. It took her a second to get her brain to formulate a response to his inquiry, because at some point since she had started working he had shed his suit jacket and his arms were crossed so his dress shirt underneath was stretched over really nicely defined back muscles.

She could practically hear Sara’s voice in her head.

_“Plus he’s hot. In case you didn’t notice that. He’s super-hot.”_

Oh she was noticing. Despite her best attempts, she was definitely noticing. He wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who could just fade into the background, no matter how hard he tried, which really threw a wrench in it not being so obvious to her and everyone else that she had a bodyguard. She had already heard the whispers between people in the hallways at school, and it made her feel even more like a spectacle than she already did at times. John couldn’t have maybe found someone a little less attractive for the job?

“Yeah…” She winced at how it came out sounding like a sigh and shook her head to clear the fog that had seemed to take up occupancy in her brain.

“You and your mom, and your uncle I guess, are Smoaks, but your dad is a Kuttler…”

“Yep,” she confirmed, having an idea of where he was going with this.

He turned around to look at her and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. His eyebrows were really expressive, that was something she had noticed about him. His face could be completely impassive, but a little lift of his eyebrow could give a hint as to what was going on inside his head.

“My parents weren’t together when I was born,” she began to explain. “I mean, technically they were still married, but my mom hadn’t seen him in months because I guess he had gotten himself into some really deep shit. I’m sure John filled you in about his past since there’s a chance it could still come back to hurt us now. Anyway, he always used an alias—“ She made air quotations with her fingers, “’The Calculator,’ when he was committing his cyber-crimes, but in case he ever got himself unmasked, my mom wasn’t too keen on me sharing a last name with him. Even though she never filed for divorce, I think the part of her that was still a hopeless romantic even after having her heart broken never wanted to give up on him. She had relocated to Vegas and started using Donna Smoak again by the time I was born, and she didn’t list a father on my birth certificate. So here I am, Felicity Megan Smoak.”  

He crossed over the room to sit in the chair near her desk and she continued, “He left to protect us; someone had found out who he was and he was afraid they would find out who was important to him and use it as leverage. He needed to… take care of the situation, go into hiding for a while. Mom learned that five years later when he showed up out of the blue at the hotel where she was working at the time. She was angry with him for just disappearing on her without telling her why, but he asked for her forgiveness, asked to meet his daughter. So she gave him an ultimatum, he couldn’t be a part of our family and still moonlight as The Calculator. She wouldn’t drag me into his mess after all the heartbreak she had experienced unless he proved to her that he was walking away from it all. He had to definitively choose what was more important to him.”

“Seems like a pretty easy choice to me,” Oliver muttered faintly.

She gave him a small smile before gesturing around the office, “Obviously he chose us. He left the hotel and straight away called up my mom’s brother, who was the one who had introduced them in the first place, with a business proposition. They started the company, built it into what it is today almost thirteen years later, and no one knows that my dad used to be a notorious cyber-criminal.” She tilted her head, “Well, some people do obviously, but he made a deal with the Feds, turned in information on people that he had done jobs for in exchange for his immunity. They still kept a close eye on him for a while, but enough time has passed now that he’s no longer on any watch lists.” Shrugging, she concluded with, “Honestly, I don’t really remember a time when my dad wasn’t around, I only know about all this because my mom told me when I got older and asked her the same question about the last name thing. So… yeah, that was a really long answer to your question—“

More words than she had ever spoken to him since he began his employment. She had surprised herself by how much she had just shared with the person who was only supposed to be unnoticeable in the background of her life.

“--but it’s not exactly the simplest question to answer without some backstory.”

He nodded in understanding and then stood up from the chair, “Sorry for distracting you from your work.”

Yawning, she replied, “It’s okay. I think I should probably just go home for the night. I’m hungry and Big Belly Burger take-out just does not sound as appealing as whatever Caroline made. Give me a minute to wrap things up and then I’ll be ready to leave.”

She was powering down her computer and packing up her things, when her phone beeped with a text.

**JOHN: Sorry I didn’t check in with you sooner. How’s it going with Oliver?**

Looking up at Oliver, who was waiting expectantly for her, she typed out a quick reply.

**FEICITITY: Haven’t killed him yet… but it’s only been 11 days.**

Her phone rang immediately and she answered it as she walked towards the door of her office, “John I was just kidding. I’m not actually planning on killing him.”

A look of amusement flickered across Oliver’s face as he held the door for her and she couldn’t keep the corners of her mouth from turning upwards in a little smile when she passed him.

“I know,” John chuckled. “I just wanted to get a real answer from you. Plus, I’ve been at home for two days with the twins while Lyla’s in DC for a meeting and I needed to talk to someone capable of forming complete sentences.”

Her and Oliver stepped into the elevator to take them down to the parking level.

“He’s standing right next to me; I’m not going to say anything nice about him out loud. You should have told me about Lyla being away, I would have come over and hung out with you and the twins.”

“Really? Would you have?” John asked, amusement lacing his voice. “Because Oliver says you’ve been keeping him at the office until all hours of the night.”

“Hey! Do you two talk about me behind my back?” she glanced over her shoulder at Oliver.

“He’s my boss, I have to report to him,” Oliver remarked innocently with a shrug as the elevator doors opened.

She glared at him before turning her attention back to her phone call, “Well, we’re on our way out now, so I won’t be interfering with his beauty sleep tonight.” She lowered her voice and hung back a few steps from Oliver as he walked towards the exit, “Also, he’s not so bad, I guess. So… thank you.”

“You’re welcome Felicity.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Little time jump going into this chapter because I needed to get this story rolling towards the main plot faster, but I promise I haven't forgotten about a certain party that was hinted at last week... Enjoy the chapter and as always I would love to hear what you thought :)

**JULY**

“Good morning baby girl!”

Felicity blinked her eyes open and propped herself up on her elbow to see her mom perched on the edge of her bed holding a sparkly pink tiara with a bejeweled “18” in the center.

“Happy Birthday!” she exclaimed, scooting over to place the tiara on her head.

“Thanks mama,” she mumbled, giving her a sleepy smile.

“I have the whole day planned out for you. Just because you refused a big party does not mean that we aren’t going to celebrate such an important birthday. Caroline is making all of your favorites for breakfast, so get ready and come on downstairs okay?”

“Okay,” she echoed, slipping out from underneath the covers to climb out of bed. Passing her dresser on the way to her bathroom, she smiled sadly at the picture of her and Sara sitting on top. It had been almost two months since Sara had left for LA and this would be her first birthday in a long time that she wouldn’t be spending with her best friend.

Taking a quick shower, she picked out a pale yellow sundress and applied some light makeup, before sweeping her hair up into a ponytail. She wasn’t sure what her mom had planned, but going off of her usual MO, she figured she was dressed appropriately like this.  

At the bottom of the stairs, she spotted Oliver reading in his usual spot in the living room and she wandered over to him.

“Finally made it to the Deathly Hallows I see.”

“Yep.” He looked up at her from his book and her stomach did that weird swooping thing it seemed to have gotten into the habit of doing lately when he smiled at her, “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” She hoped the faint blush that was rising in her cheeks could be attributed to her hot shower. It was possible that in the past few weeks she had developed the teensiest bit of a crush on her bodyguard, despite her resolve to be indifferent. The button downs with the rolled up sleeves that he had been wearing since it had gotten warmer, when they weren’t out and about and he had to look more professional in his suit, were definitely not helping. Today his shirt was a pale blue and it made his eyes look really blue and the whole image was just… really… really nice.

_Happy Birthday to me._

“I should—“ she tilted her head in the direction of the dining room “—I should head to breakfast.”

“Whatever Caroline was making for you smelled amazing when I was in the kitchen earlier,” he commented, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was a little frazzled.

“Ooh I hope it’s her homemade cinnamon rolls,” she sighed, walking away from him.

Inside the dining room her eyes were immediately drawn to the tray on the table that was piled up high with the infamous cinnamon rolls and her stomach rumbled happily as she surveyed the rest of the food Caroline had set out for her.

“Before you eat,” her mom spoke up as she was getting ready to pull out her chair. “You should open your present.”

It was then that she noticed the huge—scratch that, _ginormous_ , pink box sitting in the corner of the room and her curiosity was piqued. This was definitely not the Chloé bag she had asked for.

Lifting the lid tentatively, an excited shriek escaped her as her best friend popped up like a jack-in-the-box.

“Surprise!!”

When she recovered from her shock, she threw her arms around Sara in a tight hug, “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“I had a day off of shooting and your parents sent one of the jets to come get me,” she explained. “I couldn’t miss your birthday.”

Releasing her, she turned to her parents, “Thank you.”

“We got you the bag you wanted too,” her mom piped up, pointing out a much smaller box on the table, before gesturing back to Sara. “But we thought this was a little more exciting.”

“Definitely,” she acquiesced, before the two of them sat down at the table to dig into breakfast.

* * *

 

After eating breakfast, Sara, her mom, and her loaded up into one of the cars with Oliver and a member of their family security detail to escort them for the day.

First up on her mom’s agenda was a trip to the spa.

“You need some relaxation, you have been working way too hard lately—“

“When is she not working too hard?” Sara interjected and her mom hummed in agreement.

“I can’t believe it’s my birthday and I’m getting ganged up on,” she replied incredulously.

“It’s for your own good sweetheart,” her mom patted her knee. “Think of how much better you’ll feel after a massage.”

“Also, think of how much better I’ll feel,” Sara added. “I’ve been jumping off of buildings and pretending to take people out for the past couple of weeks. Being a stunt double for an assassin is hard work. I’m sore all over.”

“Working your dream job, what a rough life,” she teased.

“It is, you should see this bruise I have from a shoot the other day,” Sara started to lift up her shirt and she fixed her with a pointed look.  “Sorry, the car is probably not the best place for a strip tease.”

They heard Oliver attempt to stifle a laugh and Sara reached forward to pat him on the shoulder, “It’s okay to admit that you’ve missed me Oliver.”

When they arrived at the spa, she breathed a quiet sigh of relief that there wasn’t any press waiting for them outside. They would be showing up at some point today, that was almost inevitable, but she would be more prepared to deal with them after she was zenned out.

* * *

 

_“Felicity!” “Happy Birthday Felicity!” “Donna! What is it like to have your daughter turn eighteen?” “Felicity! Over here!”_

“Miss Lance! What’s it like to be the stunt double for one of the leads of this fall’s most anticipated new drama?” Sara muttered before winking at her and slipping through the press unnoticed to get in the car.  

Oliver caught her eye and she gave him a little reassuring smile. In the past two months they had gotten good at silently communicating with each other in situations like this, and she knew he would wait to step in until she gave him the signal to.

Taking a deep breath, she broadened her smile into a grin and gave a little wave to the photographers who had crowded around the spa entrance.

One of the reporters who had been calling for her attention approached her, “Hey Felicity! Do you have a quick moment to chat?”

“Sure,” she nodded, recognizing her as someone who didn’t usually write anything too dramatically inaccurate about her.

“Okay, great!” She pulled out her phone to record the conversation, “First of all, happy birthday. Do you have any plans for celebrating today?”

For the life of her she would never understand why anyone would care to read this stuff about her, but apparently people did, so she obliged her.

“Well we just had a great morning at Serenity,” she gestured to the spa behind her. “The staff here is really lovely and it was nice to be able to take some time out of my hectic schedule and relax for a bit—“

“How do you think you’re doing handling that hectic schedule?” the woman interrupted. “You’re so young, and people are concerned that the demands of your responsibilities are taking a toll. You’ve been looking quite worn out in a lot of the pictures that have been showing up online lately.” She cast a sidelong glance at her mom who was talking to another reporter or blogger before lowering her voice slightly, “Do you feel pressured to take on more at your family’s company than you want to?”  

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Oliver stiffen and she waved her hand at him subtly to stay back. This wasn’t the first time she’d had to deal with this line of questioning.

“No, I assure you I’m not being pressured by anyone to take on more than what I want to. I genuinely enjoy the work that I do for the family business and yes, occasionally I do get tired, but doesn’t everyone? Maybe if you had photographers always poking into your life and getting shots of you when your makeup is on its last legs for the day, we would be concerned about your sleep schedule too,” she replied, her smile and voice dripping with sweetness.  

The reporter was a bit taken aback but she recovered quickly, “You’re absolutely right. Well, enjoy the rest of your special day!”

She scurried off and Felicity turned to Oliver to give him a little nod before anyone else could approach her. Stepping forward, his hand found the small of her back as he shielded her from the throng of people and navigated her to the car.

“You handled that well,” he whispered, his breath warm on her ear.

“Is that sarcasm?”

“No. I’m genuinely impressed with the fact that you haven’t resorted to punching any paparazzi in the face yet with how intrusive they are,” he remarked in amusement.  

“I don’t think that would help the image that I try to portray,” she replied while he opened the car door for her. “But a little sass doesn’t hurt.” She winked and he gave her a smile as she slid into the seat next to Sara.

“So what’s next on the agenda mom?” she asked when her mom finally sat down across from them after making it through the crowd with her security escort.

Her mom clicked her tongue, “You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

A few minutes later they pulled up to Corrado’s, an Italian Bistro and one of her favorite restaurants in the city. She could practically smell the delicious garlic bread from the car as they pulled up to the curb to get out. When they got inside the owners greeted her with hugs.

“Happy Birthday Felicity!”

“Thank you,” she beamed.

“Your guests are all waiting for you in the private dining room.”

“My guests?” she questioned, glancing back at her mom.

“Surprise!” her mom remarked.  

She did her best to keep a wary expression off of her face. After her sweet sixteen she had sworn off birthday parties because her and her mom have very different ideas on what constitutes a fun party. There had been way too much glitter and people that she didn’t even really know that well for her taste.

To her relief though, when the doors were opened to the dining room what awaited her was actually a very pleasant surprise. John, Lyla, and the twins already parked in high chairs, a few of her friends from the company and her father were there and the room smelled heavenly with a buffet set-up with an array of the Bistro’s best dishes. The decorations had been kept to a minimum, just a few strings along one wall with tons of what looked like pictures of her over the years clothes-pinned to them and gold, number-shaped balloons, a one and an eight, suspended over the chair at the head of the table.

“I hope you’ll forgive me for the party… although I really think we can categorize this as a small get together, don’t you think?”

She gave her mom a hug, “Thank you mama.” Giving her an extra tight squeeze, she reassured her, “This is perfect.”

“You’re welcome baby girl.” She pulled back from her and reached into her purse to pull out her crown from earlier. “Can’t forget this.”

Indulging her, she perched the crown on the top of her fresh blow-out from the spa and gave a little Princess Diaries-esque royal wave.

She went along the line of people who wanted to give her hugs and wish her happy birthday before making it to the buffet to fill her plate with chicken parmesan, garlic bread, and some salad so she could pretend she was being healthy (even though Sara told her that wasn’t necessary on her birthday), and carried it over to sit down in her chair, right in between where the twins were already making a mess of plates of lasagna.

“Show Aunt Felicity what we’ve been working on,” Lyla encouraged Sara and JJ.

A jumbling of words that sounded somewhat like “’appy birrday aunlicity,” tumbled out of both of them at the same time, proud smiles on their faces, and she laughed.

She gave them each a slightly tomato-saucy high five, “Why thank you.”

At first she had been a little irrationally jealous that the twins had “stolen” John from her, but from the moment she had sat in the hospital room and gotten to hold the two adorable tiny babies, she had completely gotten over it.

After she had finished eating, presents had been passed down the table to her one by one.

“Your uncle sends his regards and apologizes for not being able to be here,” her father reported as he handed her a small box that was labeled as being from her Uncle Daniel. “He had some important contracts to handle today, but promised he would call later and treat you to a surprise when you get to the city.”  

Opening the box, her eyes widened in excitement.

“No way. This is…” she plucked the sleek watch from the packaging it was nestled in and held it up. “These aren’t for sale yet.”

“One of our East Coast clients is Palmer Tech,” her father explained. “It seems like we got hooked up with some advance prototypes.”

“No freaking way,” she muttered as she slipped it on.

“I don’t get it,” Sara commented. “It’s a watch.”

“It’s not a watch. It’s a smart wearable,” she corrected, tapping on the screen.

“So, like an Apple _watch_ ,” Sara added in amusement.

“Okay fine, we can call it a watch, but these have way more sophisticated tech than the Apple ones.”

“Well now I’m bummed I didn’t get sent one,” Sara pouted. “I thought your Uncle Daniel loved me too.”  

“It’s not your birthday,” she pointed out, waving her wrist in front of her teasingly. “But I’ll see what I can do about getting one shipped to LA for you.”

After she opened the last of her presents, she got up to check out the pictures that had been hung on the wall. They spanned all eighteen years of her life, from ones of her as a baby with her mom in their miniscule apartment in Las Vegas to ones from her graduation that May.

Her mom appeared beside her, “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we baby?”

“We definitely have.”

She could hear her mom start to sniffle, “I don’t know what I’m going to do when you move in a few days. Even when things weren’t so good, I had you.”

“Oh mom,” she wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I’m not leaving you forever, you can come visit whenever you want and I’ll be home for the holidays. And you’ll be so busy, the months will fly by.”

While the company was her and her father’s passion, her mom didn’t just sit around idly and had a special project that was all her own. Drawing upon her own experiences as a single mother working hard but still struggling to scrape by, she had started a nonprofit foundation to help single moms in Starling that offered a variety of things, including scholarships so they could afford to get or finish a degree and a daycare that offers free childcare. Several of their best software developers at Smoak & Kuttler were able to land their dream job and be amazing moms thanks to a little help from the foundation. Her mom loved to spend time at the daycare holding babies and she knew she would barely even notice that her “baby” was gone until it was time for her to come home for Hanukkah.

“You’re right. And I’m glad that you have Mr. Queen going along with you. I know that you didn’t want a bodyguard, but it just makes me feel much better knowing you have someone looking out for you when I can’t be.”

“I understand, I really do.” She had gotten so used to having Oliver around that it was easy to forget how much she thought he was honestly going to ruin her life. “I’m sorry that I was stubborn about it.”

Her mom brushed away a few tears, “Can’t really fault you for it since you got your stubbornness from me.”

She laughed softly, “That I did. And you know, I don’t really mind him so much anymore. We get along fine.”

_Fine being a very vague term to cover up the crush I have on him, because if mother dearest catches word of that, I will never hear the end of it._

“Oh, I’ve noticed,” her mom replied vaguely and she suddenly worried that maybe she wasn’t doing as good of a cover-up job as she thought.

They were distracted from their conversation by the sounds of the arrival of a latecomer and Felicity turned around to see Laurel walking into the dining room.

“Hey! Sorry I’m late, my train got delayed. Twice,” she apologized.

Felicity walked over to her to give her a hug, “I didn’t expect you to be here today.”

From the moment that she had become best friends with Sara, Laurel had pretty much adopted her as a little sister too, but it had been a while since she had seen her because she had started interning at a firm in Central City immediately following her graduation from law school.

“What? And pass up the opportunity to wish you a happy birthday in person _and_ see my little sister the elusive starlet? Not a chance.”

“How’s the internship going?” she her asked as they walked over to the buffet so Laurel could get some lunch.

“It’s going well,” Laurel replied. “I have a feeling they’re going to offer me a job at the end of it, but I’ve also applied for a few places here in Starling. With Sara in LA now, I don’t want my dad to be here alone. But enough about me, Happy Birthday!”

“Thank you.” She shrugged, “I don’t really feel that different than I did yesterday though.”  

“That’s because you’ve practically been a miniature adult for forever,” Laurel teased as she filled her plate. “Now where is this new bodyguard of yours that Sara says is really hot.”

She rolled her eyes and tilted her head in the direction of Oliver who was standing talking to John.

“Oh my goodness!” Laurel exclaimed softly after she shot him a glance. “That’s why the name Oliver Queen sounded so familiar. We went to high school together, but I was in the graduating class above him and I didn’t really know him personally. I almost didn’t recognize him; he’s gotten a lot more attractive. He used to have this really awful haircut. Before I head back to CC I’m definitely pulling out my yearbook so I can let you see.”

Felicity laughed, “Yes, please.”

* * *

 

“You know there’s two guys stationed outside the door, right? You can relax and enjoy the party,” John appeared at his side and he startled from where he was watching Felicity.

He shook his head, “Yeah. Force of habit.”

“A good habit. You ready for the move?” John asked. “What is it, two weeks now?”

“Twelve days,” he clarified. “And yes, I’m ready. At least as ready as I can be. I meant to ask you though, do you think I can request a sub for a day so that I can spend some time with Thea before I go?”

“Of course. I’ll put out a notice among the guys and see who’s available.”

“Thank you.” His eyes wandered back to Felicity who was talking to Sara and another woman who looked vaguely familiar. He hoped she wouldn’t mind being saddled with someone else for a day. Maybe she wouldn’t care as long as the guy left her alone, but he liked to think that they had finally connected and he wasn’t so interchangeable.   

“Things seem to be going well,” John commented. “I haven’t gotten as many complaints from her lately.”

He raised an eyebrow and glanced over at him, “ _As many?_ ”

John chuckled, “I’m just messing with you man. You managed to get her off her anti-bodyguard vendetta, so props to you.”

“How come she never had a problem with you?” he asked.

“She was younger when I was on staff,” he pointed out. “So she wasn’t quite as fiercely independent yet, and I wasn’t her personal shadow either. I just sort of became part of the family in a way, and that tends to make people more comfortable than if we’re just men in suits. It’s a tricky line to balance on though with personal security, because at the end of the day, we’re not part of the family, our relationship with them is professional and we can’t forget that.”

“Yeah,” he nodded in agreement.

“But it sounds like you’ve been doing a good job walking that line, now that you’re not afraid of her,” John continued with a hint of amusement.  

“I was never afraid of her,” he mumbled. “Maybe a little intimidated, but not afraid.”  

“Okay,” John consented. “But seriously, she told me about the day that Sara left, and you did exactly what I would have done if I was in your position.”

“Do you two talk about me behind my back?” he echoed the complaint he had heard from her all those weeks ago.

“It’s my job to check in on the clients,” John answered faux-seriously, before adding fondly, “Especially this one.”

* * *

 

When they got back to the house, Felicity dragged Sara up to her room and started pacing a trail back and forth across her room.

“Uhhh something on your mind?” Sara asked after a few seconds.

“Do you think it’s obvious?” she asked, still dwelling on her mom’s comment from earlier at lunch.

“Apparently not because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh,” she paused briefly. “Okay good. Don’t worry about it then.”

“Umm whoa, you have to tell me now. You can’t just leave me hanging.”

She fiddled with the little gold rings stacked on her fingers that had been a gift from Laurel, “What would you do if thought you had feelings for someone, but it was sort of a complicated situation and--“

“Do I know this person?” Sara interjected.

“Yes…”

Sara looked at her expectantly, “Umm…”

Felicity hesitated and dipped her head to look down at her freshly painted toes before whispering, “Oliver. It’s Oliver. And I don’t know what to do because—”

Sara held up a hand, “Okay, wait, back it up a second. I know I’ve been gone for a little bit, but I thought you hated having a bodyguard? And now you think you have… _feelings_ for him?”

“I hated that I felt like my parents were being paranoid and sticking me with a 24/7 babysitter,” Felicity clarified, continuing to pace around her room and talk animatedly with her hands. “And yes, when he first got hired I was hell bent on making his life miserable, but then I realized that he wasn’t that bad and something changed. And—“ She bit her lip, “And as crazy as it might sound, I think the feelings might be mutual.”

Sara waggled her eyebrows, “Oooh that’s kind of scandalous.”

She grabbed a pillow off of her couch and threw it at her, “I’m being serious here.”

“You’re going to have to give me more details then, because every time I’m around him, he’s like this mechanical person, a very hot mechanical person, but still. _Good morning Miss Lance_ ,” Sara said in a very robotic sounding impression of Oliver. “I consider it a major accomplishment if I can get some sort of emotion to show itself on his face. I didn’t think he was capable of having feelings.”

“Okay see that’s what I thought too when he first got hired, but things are different now. I mean yeah, he has to give off that focused, intimidating vibe when we’re out in public because he _is_ my bodyguard, but he’s not like that all the time. And every once in awhile we have these moments between us and—do you remember the night we snuck out to the party at Katie Bowen’s house?”

Sara shifted uncomfortably, “The party you almost died at?”

She rolled her eyes and came to sit on the edge of her bed next to her, “I did not almost die. I just went into anaphylactic shock.”

“Well I thought you were going to die and it was terrifying,” Sara muttered.

**_-2 Months Ago-_ **

“Where are you going?” a familiar voice growled and she startled, pausing her walk towards where she was supposed to meet Sara at the property line.

“Uhh…” Turning on her heel, she saw Oliver standing behind her with his arms crossed over his chest and his standard stoic expression on his face. She hadn’t even heard him approaching.

_And here you thought you were being so sneaky._

“And what are you wearing?” he asked, a surprised look flashing across his face like he hadn’t meant for those words to be voiced aloud.

_Welcome to my world._

She tugged self-consciously on the leather jacket and dress she had borrowed from Sara; her usual wardrobe of professional looking clothes hadn’t really seemed appropriate for the occasion.

“I’m going to a party,” she answered, deciding that honesty was probably the best policy in this case. “Because it’s the last week of my senior year, and do you know how many parties I’ve been to while in high school? Zero. Because when I’m not studying, I’m working. And I don’t really have to explain that to you since, you know, you follow me around 24/7. Anyway, I might not even have fun at this party; I might hate it. But I feel like I should experience just one night where I’m a normal high-schooler and not… what was it that journalist called me the other day? A ‘tech empire heiress?’” She took a deep breath, realizing she was rambling and feeling her phone vibrate with messages that were probably from Sara wondering where in the world she was. She gave him her best innocent puppy eyes, “So maybe you could… let me go and not tell my parents?”

He just stared at her for a second, probably still processing her ramble, before exhaling in defeat, “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”

She pouted, “Why?”

Having her bodyguard trailing her kind of defeated the purpose of trying to pretend that she had a normal life.

He fixed her with a resolute look, “Because it’s my job Miss Smoak.”  

She had said there was no way she was going to the party if he was tagging along, but at this point she wasn’t going to bail on Sara, so she sighed in resignation, “I won’t even know you’re there?”

He nodded, “I promise.”

She believed him, he had made good on that promise so far. She really only noticed he was around when he opened a door for her or said good morning or she was staring at him because he was so distractingly good looking.

“Okay.” She pulled her phone out and called Sara. “Change of plans. Mr. Queen is driving.”

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to leave you hanging! Hopefully this week will go quickly ;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! You survived the week in between the cliffhanger :) I apologize for not being able to reply to comments on the last chapter, but I did read all of them and as always I appreciate your feedback! A lot of people were thinking that Laurel was going to get involved somehow with Oliver and honestly they don't even interact in this fic lol so don't worry about that ;) Anyway, I'll stop my rambling so you guys can get to reading the chapter...

>   _....continued from last week...._
> 
> _“So maybe you could… let me go and not tell my parents?”_
> 
> _He just stared at her for a second, probably still processing her ramble, before exhaling in defeat, “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”_
> 
> _She pouted, “Why?”_
> 
> _Having her bodyguard trailing her kind of defeated the purpose of trying to pretend that she had a normal life._
> 
> _He fixed her with a resolute look, “Because it’s my job Miss Smoak.”_
> 
> _She had said there was no way she was going to the party if he was tagging along, but at this point she wasn’t going to bail on Sara, so she sighed in resignation, “I won’t even know you’re there?”_
> 
> _He nodded, “I promise.”_
> 
> _She believed him, he had made good on that promise so far. She really only noticed he was around when he opened a door for her or said good morning or she was staring at him because he was so distractingly good looking._
> 
> _“Okay.” She pulled her phone out and called Sara. “Change of plans. Mr. Queen is driving.”_
> 
> Oliver surveyed the scene that was familiar to many a party he had attended while he was in high school. In fact, it was extremely familiar because he had been at this very house before. Katie Bowen was the younger sister to Carter Bowen, who had been in his graduating class, and if he could remember correctly, an annoying prick.
> 
> He kept his distance, blending easily into the edge of the crowd. Either almost everyone was already too tipsy to notice that he looked out of place, or he had actually succeeded in the impossible task Felicity had charged him with of becoming invisible. Even with keeping his distance, he maintained a careful eye on Felicity as she awkwardly navigated the loud, rowdy room. For someone who held her own in meetings with top level executives, she looked utterly confused as to how to act in this situation and it was mildly amusing to watch. His eyes flicked around the room, wondering where Sara had abandoned her to, and found her dancing in the middle a group of girls.
> 
> Catching his eye, she gave him a wink and he shook his head in thinly veiled amusement before turning his attention back to Felicity. Or where Felicity was just a moment before.
> 
> He felt his heart rate started to speed up as he frantically darted his eyes around the spacious room before forcing himself to calm down. She had probably just wandered outside or into another room of the house, wanting to escape from him. He should have just let her go to the party alone, pretended he didn’t see her slip out of the house. Even though he knew she loved being Felicity Smoak, the tech empire heiress, he saw the way it exhausted her sometimes. He couldn’t blame her for wanting a night where she didn’t have to be everything she was always expected to be, and having him around was just another one of those expectations placed on her.  
> 
> If something happened to her though… not only would he surely be fired, but more importantly he would have failed his promise to John and her parents to keep her safe.
> 
> No one knew she was going to be here, he reminded himself as he moved outside to get some fresh air. It was a far diversion from her normal routine and anyone planning to kidnap her wouldn’t be aware of this opportune situation. She didn’t need him hovering over her all night and she would call him when she was ready to leave. If the look on her face earlier was any indication, it would probably be sooner versus later.
> 
> He was making a loop around the property when he spotted a familiar figuring running towards him, panic emanating off of her.
> 
> “Mr. Queen!” Sara skidded to a halt in front of him, panting, “Felicity— She’s not— Something’s wrong with her—“
> 
> He placed a hand on either of her shoulders, willing her to calm down enough to talk and trying to keep his brain from chasing down all the possible worst case scenarios in the meantime.
> 
> “She’s not breathing,” she finally gasped out and he felt that surge of panic bubbling up inside of him again.
> 
> “Where is she?” he growled, already making his way towards the house as she hurried to keep in step with him. He shouldn’t have taken his eyes off of her. He could already see the looks on her parents’ faces, on John’s… he pushed those images away and focused on getting to her.
> 
> A quiet little voice in the back of his head pointed out that it wasn’t just the job or the promises that he had made to other people, that made his heart feel like it was going to jump out of his chest as he and Sara ran towards the house.
> 
> As soon as they made it inside the grand foyer he spotted a group of people with pale faces over in the corner forming a circle, everyone else around them completely oblivious to what was happening as the party roared on. He broke through with Sara on his heels and dropped to the floor where a girl that he recognized as someone Felicity sometimes talked to in the parking lot at school was cradling Felicity’s head in her lap, her face red as she struggled for air. He searched her eyes for any sign of recognition but she stared at him blankly as little gasps shook her chest.
> 
> “I don’t know what happened,” the girl holding her choked out, looking up at him with wide eyes. “One minute she was fine and then she was coughing and now she’s barely breathing.”
> 
> His mind flipped through the file he had committed to memory that John had given to him containing every important detail about Felicity before stopping on what he hoped was the piece of information he needed in this situation.
> 
> _Allergies: Nuts_
> 
> _*Always carries epinephrine with her in case of emergency_
> 
> “Where’s her purse?” he asked commandingly and someone produced it.
> 
> He could hear Sara crying softly beside him as he searched through the contents of her purse, “Has anyone called an ambulance?”
> 
> All he got in response from the onlookers was a bunch of muttering that he assumed meant no. John made everyone on his staff get EMT certified, but that knowledge wasn’t going to help him if she didn’t have what he needed with her. A sigh of relief escaped him as he pulled two EpiPens out of her bag and he uncapped one before pushing the hem of her dress up her thigh to press it into her skin. 
> 
> A few seconds ticked by and everyone surrounding her held their breath collectively before exhaling when she coughed and blinked her eyes a few times. Her breathing still sounded a little shallow and ragged, but it was definitely an improvement over her condition when he had first arrived on the scene.
> 
> “That’s not what’s normally supposed to happen when you eat a pot brownie, is it?” she muttered and he restrained the laugh that threatened to break loose at the slightly disappointed look on her face.
> 
> Well there was the explanation of what had happened.
> 
> “No,” he answered, realizing his hand was still on her leg and removing it to help her up off of the floor. “There were nuts in them.”
> 
> He debated whether or not he should take her to the hospital. Normal protocol said yes, but she seemed to be doing better now and he knew she would not want the inevitable that would be her parents getting dragged into the situation, and probably the media as well, if he took her.
> 
> “Has this happened before?” he asked as the crowd around them started to disperse, the excitement over, and he led her outside to get some fresh air in her lungs. 
> 
> “Me doing drugs?” she asked. “No, honestly it was an accident. I was just hungry and I’m usually better at checking for nuts but I just wasn’t thinking. It was somewhere in between the time that I started eating it and when I was on the floor dying that someone clued me into the fact that they weren’t just regular brownies. Although let me tell you, Caroline makes brownies so good they don’t need any special ingredients to give you a euphoric experience.”
> 
> “I can attest to that,” Sara interjected.
> 
> He shook his head in amusement, “I’m going to have to try one then. But what I meant was, have you had to use your EpiPen in a situation like this before?”
> 
> “Yeah, one other time. There was an accidental mix-up at a restaurant,” she recalled.  
> 
> “Did you have to go to the hospital?”
> 
> She shook her head, “No. Usually the one dose is fine, it’s not like I sat here and ate an entire jar of walnuts. I don’t need to go to the hospital as long as someone keeps an eye on me for the next hour or so and I really would like to avoid drawing the attention that a hospital visit would.” She suddenly paled and he reached out for her arm, expecting her to collapse again but she just whispered, “No one took pictures or video did they?”
> 
> Sara shook her head adamantly, “No, I think everyone who was around you was in too much of shock. Don’t worry, if anyone would have even tried, they would have gotten a black eye courtesy of yours truly.” She bit her bottom lip and lowered her voice to gently add, “That’s not to say that pictures of you from some other point tonight aren’t going to show up online.”
> 
> Oliver watched Felicity’s face to gauge her reaction at that realization but she just yawned before saying, “Well, if they want an official quote I can let them know on the record that my official verdict is that high school parties suck, the food is terrible, and I missed out on nothing by avoiding them the past four years.” She looked up at him, “Can you take me home now?”
> 
> He nodded, “Of course.”
> 
> Sara gestured to the house, “Let me just go say goodbye.”
> 
> “No, no, no, you should stay here,” Felicity insisted. “You were actually having fun and this is probably the last time you’ll get to hang out with some of your friends before you move. I’m just going to go home and fall asleep. Boring.”
> 
> He could see the conflict still on Sara’s face and he chimed in, “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
> 
> “Okay,” she sighed in resignation. “You’re obviously the better person for that anyway. I totally knew about her EpiPen, I just panicked.”
> 
> Felicity reached out and squeezed her hand, “It’s alright. I would have been freaked out too if it was you in my position. Swing by tomorrow morning when you’re awake?”
> 
> “Of course. Feel better.” Sara gave her a hug before turning on her heel to head back into the house and he went to get the car from where he had to park it way down the street to take her home. 
> 
> Felicity was quiet the entire ride back to the mansion, he kept looking back at her through the rearview mirror every once in a while just to make sure she was still conscious.
> 
> He followed her upstairs, unsure if he should leave her alone yet in case she started to go into anaphylactic shock again. Outside her door he hesitated, but she pointed out the couch on her way in and he assumed that was his invitation to follow. 
> 
> “Are you still feeling okay?” he asked awkwardly as he settled down onto her couch, sitting on the edge stiffly. This was new territory for him, he wasn’t sure how to make himself invisible in this room like she usually wanted him to, and he felt like he was invading her privacy even though she had opened the door for him. 
> 
> “Yeah, I’m just really tired. But what else is new?” she replied before slipping into the bathroom.
> 
> A few minutes later, she emerged with all of her makeup removed, her hair falling loosely over her shoulders, and a bright floral print pajama set on. It was weird seeing her like this, he almost always saw her at her most polished and poised, and now she looked so much younger. She paused on her route to her bed to stop in front of him, wringing her hands and avoiding his eyes.
> 
> “Thank you, for tonight,” she whispered. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there and I’m sorry I—“
> 
> “Felicity,” he interrupted her before correcting himself. “Miss Smoak. It’s my job to look out for you.” She looked up at him and he added, “And my privilege.”
> 
> A small smile flickered across her face and he felt a warm sensation in his chest.
> 
> She shrugged and tilted her head shyly, “You can call me Felicity, you know.”
> 
> He rested his hands on his thighs and leaned forward slightly, “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll call you Felicity, if you call me Oliver. Mr. Queen makes me feel like an old man.”

* * *

“So that’s how the first name basis thing started, I had wondered,” Sara interjected.

She sighed in faux-exasperation, “I was almost to the end. You couldn’t have saved questions and comments for then?

“Sorry,” Sara waved a hand apologetically. “Continue.”

* * *

 

> “Deal,” she consented with a nod, her eyes flickering with amusement, presumably at his old man comment, before walking over to her bed and slipping under the duvet.
> 
> “Hey Felicity?” he spoke up tentatively after a moment of quiet.
> 
> “Yeah?”
> 
> “You said earlier… you said that you wished you could just pretend that you had a normal life, that _you_ were normal for a night.” He heard her sigh and he continued, “It’s okay that you’re not like most people though. I was a ‘normal’ high schooler and my greatest accomplishment was probably my ability to sleep through over half my classes and somehow still graduate. Barely.”
> 
> That got a sleepy laugh out of her and he smiled, “But the things you’ve accomplished, the things you’re going to accomplish… Felicity you’re remarkable.”
> 
> There was a pause before she replied softly, “Thank you, for remarking on it.”
> 
> He stayed in her room a little longer after she had flicked off the lights, listening to the reassuring sound of her chest rising and falling steadily before slipping out and driving home for the night.

* * *

“After that… something shifted. I didn’t really resent his presence anymore,” Felicity explained, a smile tugging at her lips as she sifted through memories from the past few weeks. Trying to find the right ones to explain to her friend where her feelings for Oliver had come from. “Started to appreciate it actually, especially after you left…”

* * *

 

> Felicity fought back tears that were threatening to break loose as she stood in the airport terminal with Sara, her flight having just been called for boarding.
> 
> Pulling her friend in to her for a hug, she mumbled into her shoulder, “You’re going to be the best stunt woman ever, probably a double for some super badass assassin character. And I’m going to watch the movie or show and make a game out of picking out every shot that it’s you and not the actress because I’m definitely going to be able to tell.”
> 
> She could feel Sara’s chest vibrate as she laughed, “Yeah. And you’re going to take over New York just like Kourtney and Kim.”
> 
> She pulled back and gave her an incredulous look, “Seriously?”
> 
> “What?” She shrugged, “Sometimes I watched tv with your mom when I would come over but you were still at the office working late. It made her happy.”   
> 
> “I’m going to miss you so much,” Felicity whispered. With almost everything in her life getting ready to change, she didn’t like having one more thing off in her universe and Sara had always been a constant for her. This wasn’t a forever goodbye or anything, but for the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn’t know exactly when she was going to see her next.
> 
> Sara was crying now too and she brushed away some of her tears before taking her hands in hers, “Anyone would be lucky to have a friend as amazing as you. I don’t want to be replaced as your future maid of honor or anything, but promise me you won’t let yourself be lonely. Okay?”   
> 
> “It’s kind of impossible to be lonely when I have my own personal shadow,” she jerked her head in the direction of Oliver who was leaning against the wall a respectable distance away from them with his stony, watchful expression.
> 
> “You know what I mean. He doesn’t count, you’re going to need the Kim to your Kourtney.”
> 
> She rolled her eyes, “You have got to stop with the Kardashian references or I’m not going to miss you at all.”
> 
> Sara just grinned and then the final call for boarding was announced.
> 
> “Call me as soon as you land?” she requested giving her one last tight hug.
> 
> “Of course.”
> 
> She stood and watched as Sara disappeared into the boarding tunnel, before turning to Oliver.
> 
> “Let’s go,” she said flatly, carefully wiping away at what she was certain were mascara tracks down her cheeks.
> 
> His stony expression that he had maintained earlier while he was surveilling the terminal cracked and she saw sympathy written on his face as he turned to walk with her out of the airport.
> 
> In the car on the way back to the mansion, she rested her head on the window and looked outside as the city flashed by. She was lost in her thoughts and almost didn’t notice when the car pulled to a stop until she heard Oliver say, “One chocolate shake and a large fry, please.”
> 
> Sitting up straight, she saw that they were in the drive through of Big Belly Burger and a moment later Oliver was passing the food back to her.
> 
> “Thank you,” she mumbled in surprise, taking it from him.
> 
> “You’re welcome,” he replied with a soft smile before turning his attention back to the steering wheel to navigate them out of the parking lot and continue the drive back to her house.
> 
> “I met Sara in first grade,” she recalled, suddenly in the mood to talk as she carefully dipped fries in her shake, trying to avoid dumping it on herself. “We had just moved to Starling at the end of the summer for my dad to set up headquarters for the company and it was my first day of school. And I was not cute in first grade, okay? So—“
> 
> “I doubt that.”
> 
> She shook her head, “No, seriously. Glasses, big front teeth that I hadn’t grown into yet, awful bangs that my mom had cut in our kitchen and were a little uneven—Did you not look at any of the pictures my mom had hanging up at my party?”
> 
> “Well yeah, but I—“
> 
> “Anyway, I was a little dorky looking and the new girl, so I was an easy target for two twerps at recess. They were picking on me and I remember wanting to cry because I felt so out of place and alone in this new town and new school, and they weren’t helping things. Next thing I knew though, this little blonde whirlwind comes barreling over and shoves the one kid to the ground like he was nothing but a cardboard cutout, despite him being a whole head taller than her. She then turned to me, stuck out her hand and started to introduce herself before being pulled aside by the teacher who was supervising the playground. I don’t know what possessed me, but I slapped the other kid, who was still in a surprised stupor watching his friend get up from the ground after being plowed over by Sara, across the face with as much force as my tiny six-year-old self could muster so I would have to sit up against the brick wall in “time out” with her for the rest of recess. We’ve been best friends ever since.”
> 
> Oliver chuckled, “Sounds about right.”
> 
> She sighed, “I’ve been thinking about how this time around; I’m not going to have Sara to rescue me on the playground on my first day of school. Metaphorically, of course. I know that I’m going to be fine adjusting to life in a new city, _two_ new cities, but I guess I just wish I didn’t have to do it without her.”
> 
> A silence settled over the car for a moment.
> 
> “I know that I’m not her,” he remarked, breaking the quiet. “But if you ever just need someone to talk to about your day, you can talk to me. I’m always around.”
> 
> It was funny how things had turned out. The one person she hadn’t even wanted in her life was the one person she had who she could rely on to be there when so much else in her life was starting to change.  
> 
> “Because you have to be around,” she pointed out, taking a sip of her shake.
> 
> “I could have quit,” he returned. “But you haven’t quite managed to make me want to do that yet.”
> 
> “I would have tried harder,” she replied nonchalantly. “But then I realized if I was successful I might get stuck with someone worse than you.”
> 
> He caught her eye in the rearview mirror and she gave him a little teasing smile before dropping her gaze down to her lap.      

* * *

“Aww,” Sara sighed. “He’s like the perfect big brother. You always wondered what it would be like if you had a sibling.”

Felicity’s eyes widened in realization and Sara winced, “I am so sorry, I totally forgot what the context of this conversation was. That was not what you wanted to hear. Forget I said that.”

She groaned and rested her face in her hands before lamenting, “Ugh… but you’re probably right. He does have a sister who’s not much younger than me and he probably sees me in the same way. Now I feel stupid for trying to make it out to be something that it’s not.”  

“Felicity,” Sara rubbed her back. “It’s okay, you’re not stupid for developing a possibly unrequited crush on the super-hot and, apparently very sweet and not completely robotic, guy that you spend basically all day with. Who wouldn’t have a crush on him, honestly?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled. “And I mean, even if he did have feelings for me, I don’t think it would matter anyway. His obligation to me is a professional one and he takes his job seriously. I don’t think he would feel comfortable crossing any lines. It’s just a little crush, that I can totally let go of.”

Her phone pinged and she reached for it, thankful for the diversion, when she saw that it was a text from Laurel with the promised picture of Oliver from her yearbook.

Sara looked over her shoulder as she opened the text and when the photo loaded she burst out laughing, falling back onto the mattress. 

“Well there you go,” Sara gasped for air as she tried to get her laughter under control. “Problem solved. Crush cancelled. Just look at that anytime you’re feeling weak.”

She tilted her head and peered closer at the picture, “Oh I don’t know… he looks kind of cute.”

“Felicity nooo… It’s so bad. He looks like a serial killer, and _that hair_. I’m sorry, I can’t let you be attracted to that.”

“But he doesn’t look like that now,” she lamented.  

“It’s like that old speaking trick, you know the one where you picture everyone in their underwear?”

She groaned, “How is that going to help? Trust me, I’ve already pictured him in his underwear.”

“Felicity Megan Smoak,” Sara pretended to be scandalized before laughing again. “That’s not what I meant. You should picture him looking like this every time you’re feeling weak in the knees and you’ll be cured of your affections real quick.”

“That’s kind of shallow,” she pointed out.

Sara gave her a look, “You have a crush on him, you’re not in love.”

She made a good point. And she knew that her friend just wanted to keep her from getting her emotions caught up in something that could result in her getting hurt. But she wasn’t sure keeping the butterflies from taking flight inside of her when she was around him was going to be as simple as she made it seem.

“Well, I still think he looks kind of cute like this,” Felicity waved her phone with the picture still displayed.  

“Nooo,” Sara protested, taking the phone and grabbing one of her pillows to hit her with, the two of them dissolving into a fit of giggles.   

* * *

Oliver rolled over and was surprised to discover that there was someone in his bed. Blinking his eyes, he took in the familiar form, racking his brain for the elusive memories of the events that had put her there and coming up empty. Unconsciously, his hand reached out and brushed away a lock of her blonde hair that had fallen across her face and her eyes fluttered open at the movement.

“Hey,” she whispered, her voice soft and sleepy.

“What are you doing here?” he asked abruptly.

Her brow furrowed in confusion, “You wanted me here.”

“Wha—“

She shifted closer to him to trail her fingers across his bare chest and his question died on his lips as his skin warmed at her gentle touch.  

“You wanted me here,” she repeated quietly.

His eyes flicked down to her mouth and she gave him a lazy smile before tilting her head to meet him for a—

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Oliver jolted awake at the sound of his alarm, his heart pounding in his chest as he sat up and reached over to make the jarring noise stop. He glanced over at the spot beside him that she had so vividly occupied seconds before and there wasn’t even a wrinkle in the sheets.

“A dream,” he muttered in realization, his brain finally catching up as he raked his hand down his face and took slow deep breaths.

He didn’t know what had even prompted it. He didn’t feel that way about her. I mean, sure, he was fond of her, but not like… that. He had never even considered—

_“You wanted me here.”_

Shaking his head, he got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom to get ready to go to the gym. He was brushing his teeth when his phone lit up with a text.

**JOHN: Rob was free to sub today. Enjoy your day off. Tell Thea I said hi.**

Relief flooded him. He wasn’t going to have to see her today, not with those images fresh in his mind. It had just been a dream and it didn’t mean anything, didn’t have to mean anything, but letting himself dwell on the idea of her tangled up in his sheets was a terrible idea. That might lead to him discovering that it was, in fact, something he did, in fact and that wasn’t even in the realm of things that were okay for him to want. Not only had she barely turned eighteen but—

_“…our relationship with them is professional, and we can’t forget that,”_ John had reminded him.

Splashing water on his face, he distracted himself with his morning routine and by the time he turned the key in the ignition of his car to make the drive to the gym, the mental picture of her sleepy smile and tousled hair had mostly faded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Wow this week went really fast for me, it feels like I was just posting the last chapter, so hopefully it went by quickly for you too :) Thank you so much for all of your encouraging words on the last chapter, reading your comments makes my day. In this chapter we have a character interaction that I think you guys have been looking forward to, so enjoy!

“What’s the countdown at now for days until the move?” Shado asked while he stretched to finish out his workout.

He rolled his neck, “Nine.”

“You excited? Nervous?”

His mind unwittingly flashed to the dream he had woken from that morning, but he shoved those images away again. They could easily be explained away by the Chinese takeout he had found in the back of the fridge and probably shouldn’t have eaten before going to bed.

“A little bit of both I think,” he replied, standing up from the floor. “I’ve never been to New York City before, so I’m excited for that, but it’s also a whole new routine and territory to get used to. Keeping her safe in a city that’s almost ten times bigger than Starling… and then when she starts school and we’re traveling back and forth all the time…”

He could feel his muscles that he had just relaxed starting to tense up again just thinking about all the potential dangers that could pop up in two cities he wasn’t familiar with.

Shado placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, “It will be fine Oliver.”

“Yeah,” he consented. “Thank you.” He grabbed his water bottle and his discarded sweatshirt, “Well, I should get going. I’m having Thea over for breakfast this morning. I took the day off so that we can spend some time together before the move.”

“That’s nice. How will the other young woman in your life feel about that though?” she teased.

He looked at her in confusion.

“Felicity?” she clarified.

“Oh,” he shrugged. “I don’t think she’ll care,” he replied, even though he realized a small part of him wanted her to at least care a little. “According to her calendar, she’s working at the office all day today, so she’ll be busy, and she gets in her own little world while she’s working on a project.” He could picture her now, her elbows propped up on her desk while she stared at her computer and chewed on one of her red pens that she seemed to have an endless supply of. “As long as the guy John’s sending over there to sub for me stays out of her way, she won’t even notice it’s not me.”

* * *

 

“Hey so I was thinking, since you’re almost done with the last book, we could start watching the movies on the plane—“

She looked up from her phone and stopped talking when she realized the chair that was usually occupied when she came down the stairs in the morning was empty. Her brow furrowed in confusion and she looked around the living room as if expecting him to just magically appear there. It didn’t feel right that he wasn’t there now that it had become a routine part of her day to talk to him for a minute before heading to breakfast.

Traipsing down to the kitchen, she peeked her head in and saw Caroline cleaning up from making breakfast.

“Good morning Caroline.”

She turned from where she was loading the dishwasher, “Good morning dear. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Has Oliver been in this morning?” she inquired.

She shook her head, “No. Although I think he mentioned yesterday that he was hoping to get a day off sometime before you left for New York so that he could spend time with his sister. So it’s possible that today is that day off…”

The rational part of her recognized that that made sense and was completely valid, the irrational part of her on the other hand—

“Well he can’t just not show up,” Felicity declared before realizing that she sounded whiny and softening her voice. “At least not without telling me.”

“I thought you didn’t want him around in the first place,” Caroline pointed out teasingly.

Yes, well that was before she had decided that she liked Oliver. Like _really_ liked him. But she was trying to get over her crush on him since, especially after her talk with Sara the other day, she knew it was basically futile.  

“I figured it would be a dream come true to have a day without him hovering,” Caroline continued as she started to wipe down countertops.  

“Yeah,” she replied nonchalantly. “You’re right. This is going to be nice.”

Maybe she would actually drive her Mini Coop, have a little taste of freedom. Just because she didn’t totally hate having Oliver around anymore didn’t mean that the idea of a day like she used to have, without someone’s constant surveillance, appealed to her.

“Have a good day,” Caroline called out as she slipped out the door to head to the dining room.

When she got into the dining room she did a double take at the man who was standing against the wall right behind her chair. He was dressed in a crisp suit and bore an expression that could only mean one thing.

She decided to ask anyway.

“Who is this?” she asked her parents as she sunk into her seat.

“That is Rob,” her mom answered, tilting her head towards the man in question. “John sent him over to take Oliver’s place today.”

Great. Lovely. Wonderful.

She could practically feel his eyes boring into the back of her skull.

“Could I not just go one day without a shadow?” she asked, grabbing a bagel and the container of cream cheese. “I’m just going to be at the office and there’s security there.”

“What about to and from the office? And if you decide you want to get out for lunch…” her mom pointed out before sighing. “I’m sure Rob will be exactly the same as Oliver, so please be nice to him.”

She was pretty sure Rob was _not_ going to be the same as Oliver.

Twisting in her chair, she addressed him, “You don’t have to be this close at all times. The chances of me being kidnapped at the breakfast table are incredibly slim.”

He opened his mouth to say something but she waved her hand, brandishing the knife that she was holding, “Go sit in the living room until I’m ready to leave for the day. Please.”

“Felicity,” her mom chastised when he ducked out of the room like a kicked puppy.

“What?” She shrugged. “I said please.”

Her dad chuckled quietly and her mom fixed them both with a look before resuming eating her breakfast.

Half way through finishing her bagel, her phone buzzed and she reached for it eagerly when she saw that it was a text from Oliver.

**OLIVER: Sorry for the last minute switch today. See you tomorrow.**

She sighed in resignation and finished eating her breakfast before gathering up her things to take to the office. The second she stepped into sight of the living room, Rob practically leapt to her side.

“Are you ready to leave?” he asked.

“Mhmm,” she nodded, tight-lipped, and headed for the door.

“I just want to assure you that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe today Miss Smoak,” he began as he trailed after her. “This is actually my first week with Spartan Security, but I have extensive experience working in National City as a--“

She tuned him out as he continued to ramble on.

If the point of today was to make her appreciate Oliver even more than she had already did, it was going to be very effective.

Leading him out to the garage, she slipped a key out of her tote bag and hoped that he hadn’t been completely briefed since this had been kind of a last minute sub. She set her sights on her Mini Coop and a small smile tugged at her lips. There were still a few unused ideas that she had planned on using to annoy Oliver from before she started crushing on him. Might as well not let them completely go to waste.

“This is my car,” she gestured to the red vehicle in the corner of the garage as she walked in that direction.

“Okay. Great. Would you like to drive— no wait, I should drive. Right?”

Rolling her eyes inconspicuously, she handed him the key and slid into the tight backseat. It didn’t afford her as much space as the Rolls Royce, but she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to use her car for once and there was no way she was sitting in the front with Mr. Chatterbox. Rob looked massive in the tiny car and she couldn’t help but laugh to herself at the thought of Oliver trying to fit into it with his even broader frame.

She slipped her phone out of her bag to text Sara about the scenario when she saw that there was already a notification on the home screen from her Uncle Daniel.

**UNCLE DANIEL: Finishing touches are being put on your suite. Can’t wait for you to see it!**

Attached was a picture of a bank of windows overlooking the city with a comfortable looking chaise lounge upholstered in plum colored fabric set in front of it, stacked with a variety of patterned pillows. It was just the tiniest sneak peek at what she knew was an entire floor of her Uncle’s luxurious townhouse in the heart of the city that was being renovated just for her.

**FELICITY: I’m excited!!!! You got the memo about my new entourage right?**

**UNCLE DANIEL: Of course. Two bed/baths on your floor. Is that ok?**

She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. It was going to be an adjustment having Oliver around literally all the time, sleeping right down the hall from her compared to now where he left his responsibilities to the house security at night. A few months ago she would have revolted and demanded his room be in the basement.

Or down the street in an entirely separate building.

But she didn’t really mind having him around anymore, and she knew he would still be as inconspicuous as possible even in the close proximity. It would make it easier on both of them for him to be right at her beck and call whenever she needed to go somewhere, because she had a feeling her schedule wouldn’t be quite as predictable as it was at the moment. Her concern now though was how this new arrangement might make her feelings for him, the ones she was currently trying to suppress, more noticeable. To her, and embarrassingly so, to him. But she wasn’t about to try and explain that to her Uncle, especially via text of all ways.    

**FELICITY: That works! See you soon :)**

* * *

 

“What do you think?” Oliver asked as he watched Thea carefully peel apart the fluffy layers of her cinnamon roll and pop a piece into her mouth.

“Delicious,” she mumbled, sticky, sugary icing dotting the corners of her lips, and a self-satisfied smile appeared on his face.

“Caroline has given me her recipes for some of Felicity’s favorites, so I’ve been practicing,” he explained, pouring her a glass of milk.

“Why? Are you her boyfriend now?” Thea teased.

“No,” he answered abruptly, setting the glass of milk down on the counter a little too forcefully, causing some to slosh over the edge. “I’m not. Caroline just thought it would be nice to make sure she had a little piece of home with her when she moves.”

“But is this—,” Thea gestured to his slightly messy kitchen, “—in your job description?”

“Felicity in the kitchen is apparently a threat to everyone’s safety, including her own. So technically, yes.” He turned his back to her and started to clean up the dishes he had used. “When we’re staying at her Uncle’s place in New York, there’s a cooking staff. But in Massachusetts, she’ll be on her own when it comes to meals.”

“Well she’s lucky then that her bodyguard also doubles as a personal chef,” Thea remarked.

“It’s no trouble to just make double of whatever I’m making for myself,” he pointed out. “And I’m going to miss Caroline’s cooking too, so if I can recreate her meals even half as well, I’ll be content.”

Thea sighed, “I still can’t believe you’re really going to be gone in a few days. I mean, I’m really happy for you, and I think it’s the coolest thing ever that you are working for _the_ Felicity Smoak, but I’m going to miss you.”

“I thought Tommy promised you he’s going to be such a good replacement big brother that you won’t miss me,” Oliver reminded her as he recalled his best friend’s teasing words.

Thea grinned, “He _is_ taking me out for all you can eat pancakes on the day you leave.” Her face became solemn again, “Are you nervous about the plane ride?”

He swallowed down the fear that bubbled up inside of him whenever he thought about it, not wanting it to show on his face as he assured his sister, “It’s been over four years Speedy. I’m past it.”

“Well that’s good, because you couldn’t pay me to get on a plane,” she muttered, picking at her cinnamon roll.  

“So, what do you want to do today?” he asked, eager to change the subject.

“I was kind of hoping this would be like, take your sister to work day…” she hinted.

He shook his head in amusement, “I took the day off because I can only handle one of you at a time.”

Thea pouted, “Darn. I guess I’ll settle for back to school clothes shopping…”

“School doesn’t start for a few weeks, and wouldn’t you rather do that with your aunt?”

He had spent an entire day with Felicity last weekend traipsing through numerous boutiques as she looked for a dress to wear to a fundraising event for her mom’s foundation. He had begun to propose that she just wear something she already owned and liked instead of going on this frenzied last minute search, but she had given him a look that suggested he better shut his mouth and just follow her dutifully. Long story short, she had looked beautiful in the dress she had finally settled on and he had absolutely no interest in going shopping again any time soon.

“Please? Just a few stores, and then we can go see a movie?” She gave him her best puppy dog eyes and he sighed in defeat. She was one of the two girls who could get him to fold far too easily with that look.

“Fine.”

“Maybe you could also like dress up in your suit and pretend to be my bodygua—“

“No.”

* * *

 

After cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast, they loaded up in his car and headed through the city towards the mall. It felt a little strange for him to be going out and about wearing casual clothes, and to have someone sitting next to him in the passenger seat after so many consecutive days of being on duty. He checked his watch; Felicity had been at the office for almost two hours by now. Ever since school ended she had been getting to the office earlier in the morning to avoid being there quite so late at night. A part of him appreciated this because it meant he got home earlier and had been able to spend some evenings with Tommy or at John’s house with his family. The other part of him kind of missed their late night raiding of the fridge for leftovers of Caroline’s cooking when she had forgotten to eat dinner until they made it back to the mansion at 11 o’clock at night. It gave him a reason to stay at the house a little later than necessary to join her at the kitchen counter for lasagna or chicken and dumplings, even though he knew his duties for the day were over once he got her safely home. He liked to listen to her ramble on about whatever had kept her attention so enraptured at the office even if he was completely clueless to the technical logistics of her work.

A little voice in the back of his head started to speak up about something when his attention was diverted. His eyes narrowed as he spotted a familiar looking car parked a little sloppily along the street outside a coffee shop and he turned abruptly into the side street.

“Whoa,” Thea exclaimed, as she slid against the door of the passenger side and her seatbelt locked out. “Give a girl some warning next time.”

“Sorry. I just need to… check on something,” he explained, finding a parking space in the little lot behind the coffee shop.

More like, _someone._

“Okay,” Thea opened the door to get out of the car. “But you owe me an iced coffee since you nearly gave me whiplash.”

They walked inside and he handed her some money to buy her drink before scanning the crowded space. His eyes landed on the person he was looking for, confirming his suspicions that had been provoked by the sight of the red Mini Coop. One more quick sweep of the room confirmed his second suspicion.

With a deep sigh he made his way over to the small table in the corner where she was sitting, completely absorbed by whatever was on her laptop screen as she absentmindedly chewed on a straw in a drink that looked like it was at least 50% whipped cream. Standing in front of her, he crossed his arms and—

“Miss Smoak,” he growled.

“Wha—“ she startled, nearly knocking her drink off the table and he reached a hand out to grab it as it tilted perilously on the edge.

“Oliver,” she exhaled in relief as she straightened her glasses that had gone a little askew and looked up at him. “You scared me.”

“You wouldn’t have a reason to be scared if you weren’t here alone,” he pointed out, trying to keep his frustration in check. It was unlikely that someone would snatch her out of this coffee shop, but sometimes it was the most open and busy places that could be the most dangerous. He thought she understood the necessity of him, or in today’s case, Rob, by now. Safety issues aside, with the date of her move to New York impending, photographers and reporters seemed to be even more eager to get one last little taste of her while she was in Starling, and he didn’t want her getting bombarded while she was alone.  “Where’s Rob?”

“Uhhh…” a faint blush accompanied the sheepish look on her face. “He’s a little easier to escape than you are.”

Any small amount of pride he might have felt at that was drowned out by the still pressing concern over the fact that she had been out by herself for who knows how long.

He slipped out his phone and found the saved contact info for Rob. Fixing her with a look, he pressed to call him.

“Oliver! How are you? I umm, Felicity uhhh…” Rob answered and it was obvious that he was frazzled over losing track of her.  

“I have eyes on her,” he reassured him, a little bit of annoyance seeping into his voice.

“Oh. Good. I’m so sorry. She said she was going to a quick meeting in her father’s office and I didn’t need to follow her, but then she never came back and she took the car so I was stranded and—“

“Rob,” Oliver interrupted him. “It’s fine.”

It really _wasn’t_ fine that he had basically failed to do his job, but that was partially Felicity’s fault, and what was he going to say? John would be the one to handle it.

“You obviously didn’t get the proper warnings for how difficult she can be,” he continued, shooting her another look. “Are you still at the office? I can make sure she gets back there safely.”

Felicity was shaking her head at him and mouthing no pleadingly but he ignored her as Rob responded that he was and would meet them at the executive entrance.

Hanging up, he asked her, “Why didn’t you just tell him you wanted to get out of the office for a while?”

“The whole point of getting out of the office was to get away from him,” she lamented. “Do you think I would rather be working here at this cramped table when I have my big desk and comfortable chair and blissful silence in my corner office? But he is like an overly attached puppy, and I could not concentrate with his hovering. I nearly threatened him with a knife at breakfast and even that did not deter him from being in my personal space.”

He held in a laugh at the mental picture that he conjured at that.

“He’s new at the firm, and since he got such an important opportunity to prove himself as this, he’s obviously eager to do his job well.” She rolled her eyes in exasperation and he added, “Maybe a little _too_ well.”

“Mhmm,” she acquiesced. “Who’s the girl staring at us right now?”

His brow furrowed at her quick change of topic and he glanced over his shoulder at Thea who was sipping her coffee and watching their interaction intently.

He returned his gaze to Felicity, “That’s my sister.”

“Oh. Right,” she face-palmed. “That’s why you were taking the day off in the first place. Sorry for disrupting that.”

“It’s okay. You’re helping me prolong the shopping trip I’m not exactly thrilled to go on,” he muttered to himself, before turning to Thea. “Thea, this is Felicity. Felicity, this is Thea.”

“Hey Thea,” Felicity waved and Thea’s eyes widened as she attempted to reply but only managed a faint “Hi.”

“She’s a big fan of you, for some unexplainable reason,” Oliver whispered, earning him a glare from her which he returned with a teasing grin.

While she didn’t really comprehend why she got so much attention, because her life was just normal to her, he could understand why it was so fascinating to people who weren’t in her position. There weren’t exactly many eighteen-year-old fortune 500 executives wandering around Starling in Louboutin’s after all. Her life was, for all intents and purposes, unattainable, but people could feel like they had a piece of it by reading about how she spent her birthday or discussing what she wore to an event.   

“Thea, we have to accompany Felicity back to the office before we can go to the mall. It won’t take long,” he explained.  

This was turning into “take your sister to work day” after all.

“Honestly Oliver, it’s your day off and I think I can manage getting back to the office in one piece. I made it here didn’t I?” Her hand landed on his forearm and he did his best not to flinch, his mind instantly darting back to her fingers tracing patterns on his skin in his dream before he blinked and returned himself to the present situation.

He crossed his arms, forcing her to retract her hand as he answered, “Your park job makes me a little concerned about your control over a vehicle.”

“Okay, parallel parking is hard,” she replied defensively. “The last time I did it was for my driver’s license test two years ago.”

“Fine, I’ll give you that. But we’re still following you back to the office to make sure you actually get there and don’t give Rob another near heart attack.”

He watched as she barely restrained an eye roll before starting to gather up her things.

“So what are you guys going to the mall for?” she asked, slipping her laptop into its case.

“Thea wants to do some back to school shopping,” he answered, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. He really did want to spend the day doing whatever Thea wanted, but traipsing through H&M was not his preferred sibling bonding activity.

Felicity straightened up, eyeing Thea intently, and he could see the wheels turning in her head.

“You look like you’re pretty close to my size,” Felicity commented after a second.

“I uhh—” Thea looked down at herself and then back up to Felicity. “Probably?”

“I’m in the middle of packing for my move and realizing that there’s a ton of stuff in my closet that I haven’t even worn. Or I just wore once. If you want, you can start your shopping there,” Felicity offered.

“In your closet?” Thea echoed, and the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile at her expression of disbelief.  

Felicity shrugged, “Yeah. It’s a win-win situation really. My enormous packing job makes a little more progress, and you get some new clothes. I got enough work done this morning to justify not going back to the office, and I can finish a few things up at home later. Not to mention that this means I get to ditch Rob for the rest of the day…?”

Both girls looked at him for confirmation with hopeful looks on their faces and he shook his head in amusement before sighing, “I guess my day off is cancelled then. I better call Rob back and let him know he’s off the hook.”

* * *

 

“You’re really lucky to have him, you know?”

Felicity paused from where she was rifling through some dresses and turned to look at Thea.

“He takes really good care of people who are important to him,” she continued. “And it’s obvious that you’re important to him.”

She dipped her head shyly, “Yeah.”

Maybe it wasn’t quite so tragic if Oliver only thought of her like a sister if, according to Thea, that made her pretty fortunate. But there was still that part of her that wished he would see her in a different light, even if their situation made it almost impossible for anything to transpire.

“I’m jealous actually. You already have a dream life and now you get one of the best parts of mine too.” Thea winced. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound bitter. I wanted him to take this job, and I’m really happy for him that he’s finally moving forward after everything that happened. I am. I guess I just want to know that he’s appreciated.”

Her mind caught on the words “ _after everything that happened_ ” and she realized that, while Oliver knew almost everything about her, she knew almost nothing about Oliver’s life outside of his role in hers. That’s the way it was supposed to be between them though, right? Sara making the distinction that her feelings for Oliver were probably not much more than a pretty shallow crush seemed even more relevant when she considered this.

She snuck a peak out at Oliver who was sitting on her couch reading before turning back to his little sister, “I do appreciate him, so thank you for sharing him with me.”

A moment of understanding passed between the two of them and Thea gave her a small smile that widened into a grin.

“I honestly still can’t believe I’m standing in your closet right now.” She clutched the black Lanvin tote that she was holding to her chest. “My friends are going to be so envious when I show up to the first day of school carrying this.”

Felicity nodded appraisingly, “That is a good bag. I used it all the time for school before I got my Kate Spade.”

“And you’re really okay with me taking all this stuff?” Thea asked, gesturing to the pile that was growing beside her.

“Of course. I can’t possibly take everything in here with me to New York. It was about time I cleaned out.”

“Well I’m sure you’re going to want to do some shopping once you’re in New York,” Thea added, running her fingers down the fabric of a trench coat. “Oliver will be delighted,” she drawled sarcastically.

Felicity snorted, “I’m not sure how much time I’ll have for shopping with my crazy schedule, and I’m actually usually more of a late night online shopper, but I’m not missing out on paying a visit to the amazing stores in the city, so I’m sure I’ll be dragging him through more than he’d prefer.” She pulled out a pair of slim, black leather pants that still had the tags on them, “Sara talked me into buying these and I never wore them. Add them to your pile?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you so much for your positive response to the last chapter, I was happy to see that you guys enjoyed the scenes with Thea as much as I enjoyed writing them. This chapter is the last one in what is sort of "part 1" in this story where I wanted to really set up the AU and get you familiar with the characters lives, and now that we're going to be moving into "part 2," the plot is really going to get going ;) Unfortunately though, I'm going to have to put this story on hold for a week because I have a lot going on academically at the moment and I need some more time to get things organized for the upcoming chapters, so thank you ahead of time for your patience. I should only have to skip one week (and if you follow me on tumblr: mogirl97.tumblr.com, there might be a sneak peek posted next Sunday to hold you over :)), and then I'll be back on track with my regular weekly updates. Anyway, I'll stop rambling now :) Enjoy the chapter....

“Thea.” He approached the sofa bed in his living room that she had crashed on for the night and nudged her gently, repeating her name a little louder, “Thea.”

“Wha—“ She muttered sleepily, clutching the covers tightly.

“Thea, I have to leave. Tommy’s going to be here soon.”

Her eyelids fluttered open and she propped herself up onto her elbow, using her other hand to rub her eyes, “It’s so early.”

He huffed in amusement and sat down on the edge of the bed, “I actually slept in this morning.”

Late last night he had decided to forego one last training session at the gym with Shado. The chances of him being able to sleep on the plane were incredibly slim and he needed to be alert when they stepped onto the tarmac at the private airport in New Jersey.

She wrinkled up her nose in disgust before yawning. “That’s crazy.”

“I’m used to it,” he replied with a shrug.

A little sigh escaped her, “Well, I guess this is it.”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

Untangling herself from the sheets and crawling over to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, “I’m going to miss you so much, but I’m really happy that you got this amazing opportunity.”

“Hanging around with arguably one of the most brilliant young minds in the world; not bad for someone who never finished college, huh?” he replied jokingly when she pulled back.

A little frown appeared on her face, “I’m sorry.”

“Hey.” He cupped her cheek. “It’s not your fault at all, and I don’t regret dropping out. It’s not like I had any actual career aspirations anyway, being your brother was the most important thing for me to do. And besides, I needed you just as much as you needed me.”

The corners of her mouth flicked up again in a smile, “Still, I’m glad you’re moving forward with your life now. It’s kind of crazy considering you used to barely be able to be responsible for yourself—“

He nudged her shoulder, “Harsh.”

“Give me a second, this is a compliment,” she chastised. “You went from barely being able to be responsible for yourself, to taking care of me, and now you’re being entrusted with the safety of someone else. Mom and Dad would be really proud of how much you’ve grown.”

He dipped his head shyly, “Thanks Speedy. I just wish that the wake-up call that I needed to start doing things differently didn’t have to be losing them.”

“Yeah…”

They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and Tommy stepping into the apartment.

“Remind me again why I had to be awake at this hour on a day that I don't have clinicals?” he muttered groggily, running a hand down his face.

Tommy had gone through a similar life change due to tragedy that he had. The untimely death of his mother had pushed him to take his schooling more seriously so that he could go to med school and honor her legacy by one day being able to practice in the free clinic she had started in the Glades.

“Because Ollie has to be at the castle before the princess wakes up,” Thea teased, sliding off the bed to walk over to him.  

“Oh right,” Tommy tossed him a tired grin before pulling Thea into a hug.

He stood up from the bed as well with a smile on his face. While his aunt and uncle provided a good home for Thea, there were just certain things that you needed a big brother around for, and there was no one he trusted more to fill his shoes when he left than his best friend. Tommy was also going to be moving into his apartment since it was closer to the hospital he was going his clinical rotations at, and so that he would still have the place to return to when Felicity was home on holiday breaks and for a few months during the summer, which definitely made the moving out process easier because he was able to leave most of his stuff behind.

“Sorry for making you have to drag yourself out of bed so early,” Oliver greeted him with an unapologetic tone.    

“Well I did make a promise to take someone out for all you can eat pancakes,” Tommy replied, ruffling up Thea’s already messy bedhead and she glared up at him before reaching up to smooth her hair down.

“Umm I don’t know about you, but I’m going back to sleep as soon as he leaves.” Thea jerked a thumb at him and he shook his head in amusement. “Pancakes can wait until it’s a normal time to be eating breakfast.”

Checking the time, he realized that he should get going so he gave Thea one last hug and then turned to Tommy.

“Like she’s my own sister,” he remarked solemnly, reading the question that was on his face before he even had to vocalize it.  

Oliver pulled him in for a hug, “Thanks man. See you at Christmas.”

* * *

“Oh Caroline, that smells amazing,” Oliver remarked, slipping into the kitchen to find her plating him a fat slice of blueberry stuffed french toast.

“Thank you,” she beamed, handing him the plate and a fork before turning towards the coffee pot to pour him a mug. “Hopefully it tastes just as good.”

He swallowed his first bite and nodded, “I can confirm that it does. Oh, and by the way, I took your advice about changing where I was setting aside the dough to rise, and I executed the cinnamon rolls perfectly the other day. They got the Thea seal of approval.”

“Oh good, I’m glad they turned out. Felicity is going to love you for learning how to make them for her,” she replied offhandedly, sliding his mug of coffee across the counter to him.

At her comment, he thought back to John’s words when he was first hired, that it would be up to him to decide whether or not he wanted to try and convince Felicity not to hate him. It seemed almost an eternity ago that he thought the best way to do that would be to leave her alone and now he was… planning on making her breakfast?

_What had happened?_

* * *

 

 

 

> _1 week ago..._
> 
> “So tell me about your Uncle…” he prompted, stealing a piece of her garlic bread before sinking into the chair across from her with his plate of pasta.
> 
> They were at Smoak & Kuttler late, eating leftovers from a lunch meeting that had been catered by Carrado’s, while she finished up a proposal for a new client. It was the time of the night where almost everyone in the building had gone home and the lights of the city reflected off of the big windows covering two walls of her office. Her heels had long been abandoned as she sat on her couch with her feet tucked underneath her, her ponytail wasn’t quite as neat as it had been when she walked down the stairs that morning, and papers pertaining to what she was working on were scattered all over the couch cushions and table.
> 
> She glared at him and tugged her plate closer to her before a smile flickered across her face, “My Uncle Daniel, as you know, is my mom’s younger brother. They’re… very similar.”
> 
> He raised an eyebrow, “Is that a good thing?”
> 
> “It is until they’re fighting over the color scheme for your 16th birthday party that you somehow got coerced into having,” she deadpanned, eliciting a laugh from him. “They love each other very much but it’s probably best for everyone’s sanity that they live on opposite sides of the country now. He’s the business brain behind the company, whereas my father is more the tech mastermind I guess.”
> 
> “And you’re the perfect combination of both,” he remarked, causing her to blush.
> 
> “Oh I don’t know about that…”
> 
> “Felicity, I follow you around all day. I’ve seen you in action, coding software _and_ contributing to marketing meetings, plus the hundreds of other things you do.”
> 
> She bit her lip at his flattery and looked down at her food, before replying softly, “Thank you.” She looked back up at him. “They’re grooming me to be the CEO one day, that’s why I’m involved in a little bit of everything, so I know how the whole company functions.”
> 
> “That’s smart.”
> 
> “Yeah… sometimes it can be a little overwhelming though, thinking about how carrying on what my family built is going to be my responsibility someday. What if they take the training wheels off, and I fall over?”   
> 
> She was always so confident, so sure of herself when she was in her element at the company, it was rare to see her this vulnerable with her fears.
> 
> He held her gaze as he assured her, “When the time comes, I have no doubt you’ll be ready. You already command respect in a way that even some people with more years and experience aren’t able to. It’s understandable for you to feel overwhelmed, but if this is what you want to do with your life, you’re the kind of girl who will make it happen.”
> 
> She blinked back a few tears and then a smile spread across her face, “With those pep talks, you better not go and get married and have twins on me, because I’m keeping you around forever.”
> 
> _Forever._
> 
> Her words rattled around in his head. She was just teasing, he knew that, but it got him thinking. He wouldn’t be her bodyguard forever, so where did he see himself one day down the line when there was someone younger, more fit to be her human shield, who would come around to replace him? When the time came, he supposed he would figure it out, but the thought of not seeing her everyday surprised him with how sad it made him feel.

* * *

In truth he hadn’t even really noticed exactly when things had changed, probably because it hadn’t just happened at once, like a switch flipping, but somehow he went from just wanting to just do his job perfectly and avoid her wrath, to wanting—

“Oliver?” Caroline’s voice startled him out of his thoughts and brought him back to reality.

—To wanting nothing other than that. He was just doing his job. Looking out for her the way John wanted him to, the way he had been hired to. And occasionally that involved some cinnamon sugar.

He looked up at Caroline, “Sorry, what?”

“I was just asking if you wanted some more french toast?”

* * *

Felicity stared at the massive pile of boxes that were being loaded up to be shipped to the East Coast. They primarily contained clothes and shoes and the like, but there were also some other personal items like framed pictures and souvenirs from trips, things that duplicates couldn’t be bought for her new home.

The reality of her departure that morning had really settled over the house the night before as her and Caroline had finished up the packing.

* * *

 

 

 

> _14 hours ago..._
> 
> “Yes or no?”  Caroline held up a soft gray sweater for her to give a verdict on.
> 
> She tilted her head and tapped her chin, “Yeah. That goes well with a lot of my more casual skirts. Put it in one of the Massachusetts boxes, please.”
> 
> Caroline nodded and folded the sweater carefully before placing it in one of the aforementioned boxes.
> 
> “Thank you again for helping me with this,” Felicity continued, gesturing to the mess of clothes that had exploded from her closet. “I realize I’m kind of pushing things with the movers coming early tomorrow morning.”  
> 
> After Thea and Oliver had left the other day she had tried to get a little more packing done while she was in the clothes organizing mood, but had gotten distracted by an old scrapbook that she had found with pictures of her and Sara that had turned into a three-hour phone call with her friend. It wasn’t until now that she had returned to the project of packing and with her mom out to dinner with her dad at a friend’s restaurant grand opening, and invitation she had had to decline due to her procrastination, she was relieved that Caroline was around to help.
> 
> “It’s no trouble dear. And it’s understandable, you’ve been very busy. Besides, it’s giving me a chance to spend a little more time with you before I have to say goodbye.”
> 
> She sighed, “Ugh let’s not talk about that yet. I’m still here for 24 more hours.” A quick glance at the clock changed her response, “Okay, never mind, make that 15 hours.” 
> 
> There was a soft knock on the door and she called for the person to come in.
> 
> “Hey…” Oliver peeked his head in. “I brought my stuff over, where should I put it?”
> 
> “Oh umm…” She stood up from the floor where she had been sorting through a box of jewelry and brushed her hands on her sweatpants. “You know the spare room right by the back delivery entrance?” He nodded and she continued, “We’ve been putting stuff in there. The movers are going to pull around to that driveway tomorrow.”
> 
> “Okay.” He started to back out into the hallway.
> 
> “Do you want any help?” she piped up.
> 
> Looking around at her mess of a room, he replied frankly, “I think you should just worry about yourself right now.”
> 
> She cringed, “Yeah. Might be a late night tonight.”
> 
> “Well you better not be up so late that you sleep through breakfast, because I’m making blueberry stuffed french toast,” Caroline commented from where she was zipping a dress into a garment bag. “For both of you.”
> 
> “Mmm. Well if even if Sleeping Beauty misses out, you can count me in for breakfast,” Oliver replied with a dimpled grin before ducking out.
> 
> Once the door was closed, she heard Caroline attempt to stifle a sigh and she looked up at her in amusement, “Caroline?”
> 
> Blushing, she held up the garment bag to hide her face for a second in embarrassment before lowering it and giving her a sheepish look, “Sorry. I’m practically old enough to be his mother, I know. But he’s just so handsome and charming.”
> 
> She laughed softly at her confession before muttering, “Can’t argue with you on that.” 

* * *

Checking the time on her phone, she saw that there was a little less than an hour left until her and Oliver were supposed to head for her family’s private hanger to board the jet. After making sure that the movers had everything under control, she headed back inside to say her final goodbyes to her family members.

Her first stop was in her father’s study where he was working for the day in order to be home for her departure. Peeking her head in the doorway, she made sure he wasn’t on a phone call before stepping in.

“It’s almost time for me to leave,” she prompted, closing the door behind her.

He stood up from his desk and walked over to give her a hug, “Goodbye sweetheart.”

“Bye Dad.” When she pulled back there were rare tears in his eyes and she blinked in surprise, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am. I’m just really proud of you. And I’m grateful that I’ve had the chance to watch you grow into the brilliant, talented young woman you are. Had I made a different choice all those years ago… well, things could have been very different then they are.” She nodded, she had thought more than once about what her life would be like if her father had never stepped back into it, and he continued, “And I guess I’m also a little sad that I’m losing my partner in crime. I love your mother, but we don’t really speak the same language with a lot of things.”

 A little smile turned up the corners of her mouth. Her parents were the literal personification of “opposites attract.” “Well I’m just a phone call away.”

He returned her smile, “How about you start with calling when you land, okay?”

“I will,” she confirmed and they turned to head out of his study. “Take care of mom, she’s going to be really sad for at least a week and is probably going to get sucked down a hole of binge watching Real Housewives of New York.”

He huffed in amusement, “Don’t worry. I’m surprising her with a trip to Ravenspur to distract her. We’re leaving a few hours after you.”

They had fancy vacations homes all across the globe; a flat in Paris, a villa in Bali and a lodge in Aspen, to name a few, but her parent’s favorite place remained a little cabin in Ravenspur. Apparently they had good memories associated with the place from when they were first married, her mother had shared a few of them with her that were definitely too TMI for her liking.

They found her mom pacing in the living room, her heels making a clicking staccato across the hardwood floor.

“Mom?”

She paused and turned to her, her shoulders slumped, “Do we have to do it now? Couldn’t we just put it off a little longer? My make-up… it’s going to get all ruined.”

“We’re expected to be at the airport in about an hour. As soon as John gets here we’re going to have to leave,” she reminded her, opening her arms up for a hug, “C’mere.”

Her mom shuffled forward and buried her face in the crook between her neck and her shoulder. She could feel a puddle of moisture from tears spreading across her shirt, but she didn’t pull away as her mom cried softly.

Instead, she rubbed circles across her back soothingly. “Don’t forget, I’m going to be back in six months, less than six months actually, for Hanukkah.”

“I know,” her mom mumbled.

“And you can come visit before then whenever you want.”

“I know.”

“Felicity are you—“

She pulled back from her mom and glanced over at Oliver who had appeared in the entryway to the living room.

“Oh. Sorry for interrupting,” he apologized and took a little step back.  

“Just give us a minute,” she replied and he backed out of the room as she turned back to look at her mom who was dabbing at her eyes. “You going to be okay?”

She nodded and reached up to cup her cheek, “Yeah. I’m so proud of you. Smart, beautiful… oh the boys are going to be all over you at MIT.”

“Mom,” she groaned, shaking her head in a mix of annoyance and amusement. Her mom had not so subtly been pointing out potential boyfriends for her since at least ninth grade. It began with one of her friend’s sons, who she became convinced would be perfect for her, and subsequently invited the whole family over for numerous awkward dinners. Her love life just hadn’t been too much of a priority when she was trying to juggle Calculus homework and corporate events. Recently though her mom had come to the opinion that she was single because boys were intimidated by how intelligent and successful she was, but that she would find a man who would appreciate that when she started college.

_Whatever you say mom..._

She resisted the urge to steal a glance back at the doorway Oliver had disappeared through and was relieved when she spotted Caroline over her mom’s shoulder walking in with her luggage. Giving her mom one last quick hug, she made a beeline for Caroline. 

“I steamed the purple dress you asked me to,” she remarked, handing her the garment bag containing said dress, her small suitcase with a few necessities in case the moving trucks were delayed longer than they anticipated, and her everyday tote which was loaded up with what she needed for the plane.

She juggled everything in her hands, pushing her tote bag up onto her shoulder to get a handle on the suitcase and garment bag, “Thank you.”

“My pleasure Felicity. I made sure to stick some extra treats into your bag for the flight, so you should be good to go.” Caroline smiled sadly, “I guess this is goodbye.”

“For now,” she clarified. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You’re right,” Caroline nodded. “Don’t get into too much trouble in the big city.”

“I don’t think I’ll have time too,” she replied innocently. “And when have I ever gotten into trouble?”

Caroline smiled knowingly, “I’ve worked for your family for almost your entire life; do you really want me to answer that question?”

Her eyes widened and she gave her a sheepish look.

“I’m just teasing you, you’re a good girl Felicity. Be careful with him though,” she advised, tilting her head towards where Oliver was now standing a few yards away talking to her parents. “These situations, as I’m sure you’re aware, can be complicated.”

A look of confusion crossed Felicity’s face as she glanced over in his direction, “What are you---“

Caroline rested a hand on her shoulder and gave her a wink, “Certain things have not escaped my attention…”

She shook her head, “It’s nothing, just a little crush. Anyone would— I mean even you—“

Caroline hand squeezed her shoulder gently to interrupt, “I wasn’t necessarily talking about _your_ feelings.”

“Oh.” Felicity’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh?”

“Just some observations,” Caroline replied vaguely before walking off, leaving her slightly perplexed.

She had spent the past twelve days since her birthday convincing herself that her feelings for Oliver were unrequited and therefore she should just ignore them, only to have Caroline plant the suspicion that maybe that wasn’t the case.

Right before they were supposed to move in together.

_Great._

However, it didn’t change the fact that he was first and foremost her bodyguard with a professional obligation to not only her, but her parents and John. That’s where the _complicated_ came into play in the situation. Even if he did like her like that, there was no way he was going to do anything about it. He took his job very seriously and it was probably somewhere in his contract that he couldn’t be romantically entangled with his charge.

And if it wasn’t, it was more than likely an unspoken rule that she had a hard time seeing him break.

* * *

After John arrived at the house, they said one more round of goodbye before he drove her and Oliver to the private hanger where one of their jets had been prepared for their flight that morning.

When they got out of the car, John pulled her in for a big hug and kissed the top of her head. “You need anything, just call. Okay?”

She looked up at him, “Okay.”

He tilted his head towards Oliver, “And try not to give that one too much trouble.”

“Oh John, now you know I can’t promise that,” she replied with a teasing smile and he chuckled.

Letting her go, he turned to Oliver, giving him a hug as well. “Same goes for you. I know we have our weekly scheduled calls to check in, but if something comes up, don’t hesitate to call whenever. I have contacts in New York that can lend a hand.”

Oliver nodded solemnly and once again she was reminded that she didn’t have a bodyguard for no reason, but because there was always the potential for her to be in danger. She brushed those thoughts away though, she wouldn’t live in fear and she trusted Oliver to keep her safe.

They headed into the hanger and she turned to give John one last wave goodbye before climbing the steps up into the jet.

“You alright?” she asked tentatively as the got settled into their seats for take-off. Oliver looked pale and tension was emanating off of him in waves as his hands gripped the seat rests tightly.

He looked up at her and swallowed, nodding a “yes” that she did not for one second believe. Forthcoming was also not exactly a word she would use to describe him, so she had a feeling he wasn’t going to fill her in on what was making him look like he was going to pass out on her any minute.

_Okay Felicity. Use context clues._

She mentally ran through their entire morning up until this point and the only thing she could think of was—

Oh. _Duh._

“Oliver, have you ever been on a plane before?”

He looked at her, his chest rising and falling raggedly, “I—yes.”

“Okay… so you know it’s really not that terrifying of an experience, right? You’re the one who protects me, you’re not supposed to be afraid of anything.” She joked, hoping to get him to relax.

“Sorry. It’s just umm—“ He pressed his fingers against his temples and she could tell he was trying to even out his breathing, “It’s just been a while.”

Every fiber of the muscles in her arm were screaming to reach out and offer him some comfort despite her brain’s insistence that she should keep her hands folded in her lap.

A heavy, awkward silence settled over the cabin, punctuated only by the sound of his heart beating rapidly as he closed his eyes, a pained expression on his face. There was definitely something wrong beyond just a fear of flying, but she wasn’t sure if he was going to want to talk about it with her. She thought about what he would do if it was her in his position though, and she figured that she owed it to him to at least try and help ease his mind.

“Do you need to talk about it?” she whispered.  

His eyes snapped open, “What?”

Reaching out, she closed her hand gently around his wrist, “Something is obviously bothering you.”

He looked down at her fingers stroking the skin on the inside of the wrist and she could feel his pulse start to slow down a little bit. “I don’t want to— it’s not—“ He sighed, “I don’t want to scare you.”

Her eyebrows pinched in confusion, “I don’t understand.”

“My parents… they’re dead,” he offered as a vague explanation and she felt her chest tighten. Thea’s words from the other day echoed in her head, _“after everything that happened.”_ She felt guilty that she hadn’t taken time to learn more about him in all the time that they spent together. To be fair, it wasn’t really dictated by their professional relationship for her to know this stuff, but he had gone beyond his obligation to her on more than one occasion.

“I’m so sorry.” Was the only thing she could think to say.

“It was a one in a million mechanical fluke, the plane’s engine…” He trailed off and she was relieved to be spared of details why they were currently in the air. “Statistically it’s not going to happen to me, it’s not going to happen on this flight, I know that. This is just— I hadn’t really thought about it in a while, and this is bringing it all back.”

“How long ago?” she inquired gently.

He exhaled, “Four years. I was in college, and I dropped out to take care of Thea.” Dipping his head, he muttered, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think this was going to happen. I thought enough time had passed, I thought I’d be fine.”

She interlocked her fingers with his and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, “It’s okay. If you hadn’t been on a plane since it happened, you couldn’t have known it would trigger those painful memories. Umm… is there anything I can do for you? I thought we could watch the first Harry Potter film, but in hindsight maybe that’s not the best selection. You know with the whole parents dying thing and—and I’m just going to be quiet now.”

Pulling her hand away from his, she ran it through her ponytail awkwardly.

He gave her a faint smile, “No, that’s a good idea, a movie will help distract me.”

“Oh. Okay.” She dug through her tote and extracted her laptop. “Umm it might work best for you to come sit in this seat next to me.”

The pilot had turned on the sign to indicate that they had reached cruising altitude and it was safe to walk about the cabin, so he eased himself out of the seat across from her and moved to the one she had indicated. Once she had set her laptop up on the table, she started the movie and the opening credits began to roll. She was only half focused on the movie as she glanced every so often over at Oliver to make sure that he was okay. He still seemed a little tense but he was definitely more relaxed than he had been when they first boarded.

Somewhere between Harry finding platform nine and three quarters and arriving at Hogwarts though, the near all-nighter she had pulled packing caught up to her and she dozed off.

When she woke up her glasses were sitting neatly on the table next to her laptop and there was a blanket draped over her.

Blinking sleepily, she asked, “Are we there yet?”

The pilot’s voice came across the speaker system, “We’ll be preparing to land in New Jersey in 20 minutes Miss Smoak.”

Oliver tipped his head, “There’s your answer.”

She straightened up in her seat. “Sorry I fell asleep on you. Are you… are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” he assured her, and he did appear to be back to his usual composed self. “The movie kept my mind occupied and then I spent some time familiarizing myself with your new city.” He held up his tablet with a map of New York displayed on it, and what looked like routes marked off between her Uncle’s townhouse, the Smoak & Kuttler offices, and other various locations.

“Well look at you, being productive while I just snoozed.” She gave him an impressed nod before starting to dig through her tote for some of the snacks Caroline had promised.

“This is my job,” he pointed out.

Something in his tone made her think he was reminding himself just as much as her and it brought her earlier conversation with Caroline to mind. She wished there was some way to broach the subject with him, if only to just put it behind them, without a) embarrassing herself, b) making things super awkward, or c) all of the above.

Knowing herself, “c” was the likely outcome.

Maybe it was for the best that they both just ignore whatever was possibly going on between them, if of course something actually was going on between them and she wasn’t just imagining the whole thing, but that was easier said than done on her part.

 _Ugh._ She stiffed an exasperated groan.

Why couldn’t she have just stuck with her original plan to hate him? Why couldn’t her crush on him have been as easy to dismiss as Sara made it seem?

She bit into one of the fudgy, delicious brownies that Caroline had stashed in her bag and distracted herself with watching through the window the New York skyline come into view as the plane dipped below the clouds.

When they landed at the small private airport in New Jersey, a car was waiting for them courtesy of her Uncle to transport them into the city. Traffic was busy, but before she knew it she was hanging up on her call with her dad and they were pulling up to a building that bore the familiar Smoak & Kuttler logo.

“Mr. Smoak requested that you be brought here to meet him,” the driver announced, bringing the car to a stop.

Oliver got out of the passenger seat quickly to come back and open her door for her to step out into the warm, late summer evening. The noise and bustle of the city filled her ears and she took a deep breath as she looked up at the front doors of the towering office building where a familiar face was stepping outside.

“Felicity!” Her uncle stretched his arms out in greeting, “Welcome to New York!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder if you missed it in the beginning note, there won't be an update next week. See you in two weeks :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guys, I survived my lab practical and my exams so I'm back with a new chapter! Thank you for being patient with me :) Lots of fun stuff happening in this one as we're transitioning into Felicity's (and Oliver's) new life away from Starling. Also I just want to apologize for being truly disastrous at replying to comments on this fic, you guys have left such thoughtful feedback and I feel bad that I haven't had time to reply to everyone but I'm going to do my best this week :)

Felicity grinned at the sight of her Uncle and quickly ascended the few steps up to where he was standing.

“How’s my favorite niece?” he asked as he gave her a tight hug.

“Last time I checked I was your only niece,” she replied and he released her.

“Ahh well, you’d still be my favorite even if you weren’t,” he returned with a wink.

“It’s so good to see you,” she exclaimed, falling into step with him as the entered the building and feeling Oliver’s presence as he quietly shadowed her movements. Since her Uncle moved to New York a year and a half ago to oversee the East Coast expansion of the company, his visits to Starling had been few and far between because they were exploding with new business and it was hard for him to take time away. She had missed having him around, and so it had been a no brainer to make the suggestion that she help out at the New York headquarters to fill in some gaps with her tech expertise and help lighten a bit of his load while she was attending school only a little over an hour’s flight away.

“Likewise. You have no idea how excited I’ve been for you to get here, just ask Eliza.” He tilted his head towards a petite redhead who was waiting for them in the lobby and walked over to them when they walked in. “Felicity this is my PA, Eliza. Eliza, this is Felicity.”

“It’s nice to meet you Felicity, your Uncle speaks very highly of you,” Eliza greeted her, shaking her hand warmly.

Felicity returned the sentiment and she didn’t miss the way Eliza’s eyes flickered to Oliver standing behind her and ever so slightly widened appreciatively before they continued their walk towards a bank of elevators across the lobby. Looking around she observed that the design of the interior of the building was nearly identical to the Starling one and it made her feel instantly at home.

“I’m sorry I missed your birthday, but I promise I will be making up for it,” Daniel remarked as the doors of the elevators opened to the top floor of the building. “Starting…” he gestured her to follow him down the hallway through a set of glass doors. “With this.”

Scanning the space he had led her into, her jaw dropped, “Is this mine?”

“Of course it is. Welcome to your new office.”

It was a little smaller than her one in Starling, but the expansive floor to ceiling windows that made up two of the walls created a gorgeous panoramic view of the city and made the room seem enormous. The setting sun was currently basking the office in a warm glow as she walked over to her desk and ran a hand along the spotless glass surface before moving closer to the windows to look out at the busy streets of Manhattan beneath her.

She shook her head in disbelief, “This is amazing. I hope you didn’t kick someone out of here for me to take it over, because they’re going to hold a grudge.”

“Ahh no, this office was intended for you from the moment we renovated the building.” Her Uncle joined her at the window and nudged her shoulder. “Nothing less than the best for our future CEO.”

“Thank you.” Though it was hard for her to admit, there had been a time when that sentence would have made her more anxious, but she was starting to feel more calm and excited about what her future held.

_“When the time comes, I have no doubt you’ll be ready.”_

That talk in her office back in Starling had made her realize that Oliver had her back in more ways than one. Knowing John the way she did, she had a feeling that was always his intention when choosing someone to fill the position.

“Mr. Smoak?” Eliza piped up. “Just reminding you that you have your call with the Times in 10 minutes.”

“Oh right, thank you Eliza. Felicity I have to take this quick call, but I’ll meet up with you afterwards so we can head over to the house. In the meantime, if you need anything, Eliza will be more than happy to help,” her Uncle informed her before slipping out.

Felicity turned to his Uncle’s PA, “Do you think you could give me a little tour of the rest of the building?”

“Of course,” Eliza nodded enthusiastically and led her out into the hallway. “I think you’re really going to like working at Smoak & Kuttler East. Your Uncle has put together a great team here and you’ll fit right in. I mean, obviously you’ll fit in, your name’s on the building so… yeah. Although I can’t even begin to imagine how you’re going to balance college along with your responsibilities here.”

Felicity felt as if she was experiencing what listening to her babble was like and she bit her lip to hide a smile.

“She can do it, she’s the best,” Oliver muttered quietly from where he was walking behind them. She had almost forgot that he was there, he was being so quiet. Which she realized was how he always was when they were out in public, but after what happened on the plane it was hard to tell if he was just being his usual professional self or if he was still more upset than he had let on before they landed. It had been a rare moment for him to open up to her about something in his life, as their occasional conversations that veered into more personal topics were always focused on her. She wondered if she should approach the subject again later or if he wanted to just move on from it.

Felicity glanced back at him, “What?”

He shrugged. “Nothing. Watch your step,” he added, bringing his hand to her elbow to steady her as she was about to trip over a step up she wasn’t paying attention to.

“Oh! Thank you...” Successfully navigating the small flight of steps that led up to the rest of the executive floor, she looked back over at Eliza, “Well it will involve quite a bit of traveling. But there’s rumors that I’m getting a helicopter as a late graduation slash 18th birthday present.”

Eliza snorted, “For my graduation present I got a mini-fridge for my dorm room.”

Felicity blushed. Sometimes she forgot that things that didn’t seem that ridiculous to her, seemed so to others. As hard as she tried, Oliver was right, she was never just going to be “normal” with the life that she led. Now that she was finished with high school, she didn’t quite feel that same desire to just blend in with everyone, but she had wondered more than once if she was going to be sort of an outcast at MIT because she wasn’t exactly your average college student. She supposed in a few weeks she would find out.

“But I mean, I didn’t exactly have a reason for needing a helicopter, and you do so… it makes sense,” Eliza added hastily before pointing out a conference room and her Uncle’s office.

“Yeah… so anyway, I have all of my classes scheduled as Tuesday/Thursdays so that I can fly down from Massachusetts and work weekends, Friday through Monday. And I guess somewhere in there I’ll have time to do my homework. I know it sounds crazy but, I’ve worked a pretty full load at the offices in Starling all through high school so I’m used to it.”

After showing her the rest of the executive floor, Eliza took her around to various offices, introducing her to software developers, IT specialists, and customer service representatives until her head was spinning with names and faces.

When they finally made it back to the lobby, they met up with her Uncle who was talking to a tall, handsome man who she thought looked vaguely familiar for some reason.

Her Uncle spotted them and waved her over, “Felicity! Excellent timing. I’d like you to meet someone.” He gestured to the man he was talking to, “This is Dr. Ray Palmer. Dr. Palmer, this is my niece Felicity.”

Suddenly she realized why the man looked familiar.

“Pleasure to meet you Felicity.” Dr. Palmer extended a hand to her and she shook it enthusiastically.

“It’s an honor to meet you Dr. Palmer,” she gushed. “I read your feature in last month’s edition of Wired, the things you’re doing with nano-technology… it’s absolutely fascinating.”

An impressed look lit up his face, “Thank you, and please, call me Ray. The nano-tech is still very much in the developmental stage though. Palmer Tech’s main push at the moment are it’s---“

“Smart wearables,” Felicity interjected with a grin, holding up her wrist to display her birthday present from her Uncle. She could practically hear Sara’s voice in her head, _“It’s a watch you nerds.”_

“Felicity’s going to be overseeing the database protection services we provide for Palmer Tech once she gets settled into her position her,” Daniel remarked. “I think you’ll enjoy working with her Ray, she’s a very bright young woman.”

“I look forward to it.” Ray turned to Felicity with a smile and she could have sworn she felt Oliver take the tiniest step closer to her.

Daniel checked his watch, “I hate to cut things short with you Ray, but we have rapidly approaching dinner reservations for tonight, so we should be off.”

“Ah, I better not forget my reason for coming then.” Ray reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a fancy looking envelope to hand to her Uncle. “We’re having a party next week to celebrate the opening of the new showroom and I’d love for you to attend if you’re free. This invitation is extended to you too of course, Felicity.”

They accepted the invitation before saying their goodbyes and then parted ways, as Oliver, her Uncle, her headed for the executive entrance to be picked up by the driver that was going to take them to her Uncle’s townhouse. It was a short drive made long by evening NYC traffic and she slipped out her phone to text Sara.

**FELICITY: NYC Felicity is a go!**

**SARA: nice!!! how was your flight??**

**FELICITY: interesting…**

**SARA: oh?**

**FELICITY: just learned some stuff about O**

**SARA: does he snore?**

**FELICITY: lol no. well idk. but sad stuff about his family :( he lost both his parents a few yrs ago**

**SARA: oh…. :( poor guy**

**FELICITY: yeah. I feel bad I barely know anything about him**

**SARA: uh because he’s your bodyguard. they’re supposed to be mysterious + scary :P**

**FELCITY: lol but still. he basically left his whole life back in starling… I just want him to know that if he needs a friend here, he has me**

**SARA: ok why are you telling me this?? tell him!!**

**FELICITY: it’s complicated**

**SARA: because you have a crush on him**

**FELICITY: mostly that yeah. I don’t want to make things awkward.**

**SARA: smh girl we’ve already discussed this. do you have that pic saved??**

**FELICITY: ha ha judge me all you want I still don’t think it’s that bad ;P but also there’s been a new development….**

**SARA: oooh do tell**

She proceeded to tell her about what Caroline had said before they left that morning but didn’t get a chance to see her reply before they were pulling up to the townhouse.

“Whoa, this is some nice real estate,” she commented when Oliver opened the car door for her and she stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of a gorgeous brownstone, straight out of a movie. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted photographers and she was glad she had taken a few minutes in a bathroom back at the offices to fix her appearance, because her post-plane nap look was not one she wanted broadcasted across the internet. Pasting on her practiced smile, she did her best to pretend they weren’t there as she followed her Uncle up the front stairs and into the foyer of the townhouse.

“For future reference I’ll be sure to show you the rear alley entrance,” Daniel informed Oliver before looking over at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think we’d have to worry about that today.”

She waved a hand dismissively, “It’s okay. They weren’t obnoxious. I’m just a little surprised, I’m kind of a small fish in a big, very big, pond so I didn’t think that I would get much attention here.”

Her uncle chuckled, “Oh I wouldn’t be certain of that. I think you’ll win the heart of Manhattan just the same as you did with Starling.”

Sighing, she fell into step behind him as he showed her around the main living areas on the first floor including living and dining rooms. The overall décor was very clean and crisp but with a few pops of color and patterns, a bright wallpaper there, a cheery yellow lamp here, that definitely made it clear that this was a Smoak residence.

“Your private floor is the third,” Daniel explained, showing her over to a stairwell. “It’s designed so that it’s bypassed by the main stairs and you won’t have people walking through your living area on their way up to the other levels. We’ll take a quick look before we head over to the restaurant for dinner.”

They ascended the stairs and for the second time that day her jaw dropped as she took in her new part-time home. The little sneak peeks her Uncle had been sending her did not do the space justice. It was open and airy with a living room, complete with the reading nook by the windows with the plum colored chaise lounge he had sent her the picture of; a small kitchenette containing a fridge, sink and microwave; and an office set-up with a sleek desk similar to the one that had been in her office. The decorating style was just to her taste and she could already envision where the things she had brought from Starling would fit in perfectly.

“Uncle Daniel… wow. You did an amazing job with all of this.” She turned to him, “Thank you so much.”

It wasn’t like she hadn’t spent the majority of her life living in a mansion with all the luxuries and amenities she could ever want, but there was something about a space like this, that was new and just her own, that made it seem even more special.

“You’re welcome.”

“Maybe when you leave the company to me, you should consider having your own HGTV show,” she teased.  

He laughed, “Your mom is convinced we’re going to open a party planning business, but maybe I could convince her elsewise. She actually helped me out a little with picking things out when she was last here to visit.”

“So you two managed to actually cooperate?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as she recalled the party incident she had told Oliver about.

“Oh we fought for at least 25 minutes in the middle of a showroom on what color the couch should be.” He gestured towards said piece of lavender furniture and flashed her a grin, “But for the most part we were nice to each other.”

Shaking her head in amusement, she wandered over to one of the doors and opened it up to reveal her bedroom. The bed was a king size with an upholstered headboard and a million pillows piled up on it that made it look like it was straight out of a magazine. Not even bothering to kick off her shoes, she launched herself onto the mattress and sunk into the plushness.

“This is nice,” she sighed contently, feeling like she could fall asleep then and there.

Daniel chuckled, “Are you going to make it to dinner?”

In response, her stomach grumbled and she realized she hadn’t eaten since the brownie on the plane and dinner was pretty much the only thing that sounded better than cuddling up in her new bed.

“Your luggage should be up here somewhere. I’ll meet you downstairs in 20 minutes, okay?”

She propped herself up on her elbow and nodded, “Okay.”

Crawling off of the bed, she peeked her head into her bathroom, which looked like it belonged in a spa, before wandering back out into the living area to retrieve her suitcase.

“Did you see your room?” she asked Oliver, who was standing by the windows looking out.

He glanced over his shoulder at her, “My what?”

“Your room,” she jerked her thumb at the door across from her bedroom that she assumed was his.

* * *

His room.

He knew that he was living here, that had been discussed in a meeting at some point, but actually seeing the door right across from hers threw him for a bit of a loop.

Mechanically he walked over to it and turned the knob to let himself in. He could feel her hovering over his shoulder looking in when she commented, “Hmm, you didn’t get as many pillows as I did.”

Huffing in amusement, he stepped forward and ran a hand along the soft charcoal gray bedspread.

“Do you like it?” she asked.

For having never met him before, Felicity’s uncle did a pretty good job of picking out things he would have chosen for himself. Or more accurately, he didn’t really pick out much of anything, the room was pretty bare and simple, but he liked it that way. Unzipping his duffel, he pulled out a framed picture of him and Thea that she had given to him before he left and put it on one of the bedside tables.

“It’s perfect.”

“Good!” she responded cheerily. “Well we have to be downstairs for dinner in 20 minutes, so I’m just going to change quickly.”

He watched her duck out and then sunk down onto the bed. Opening his hands, he saw little imprints in his palms that were still red from where his nails had dug into his skin when his hands were tightly fisted on the plane ride. It had caught him off guard the way everything he had tried to move on from the past few years had flooded back to him, triggered instantaneously when he stepped onto the jet.

The phone call that turned his entire world upside down.

The funeral with empty caskets because his parents’ bodies had been obliterated in the fiery ruins of twisted metal.

The guilt that he hadn’t been as good of a son as he should have been and now it was too late to be different.

The nights where he had laid awake at night just waiting for his little sister to come running into his room because she had a nightmare and she would curl up against his side and sob until he was able to calm her down enough to fall back asleep in his bed.   

The meeting with the woman from child services where they had tried to take Thea away from him.

He had made a promise to that woman in exchange for his sister and he had made good on it. He became disciplined, focused, responsible, everything he should have been for years before that.

Having Thea to take care of had been the one thing keeping him afloat, if he had lost her he had a feeling he would have drowned in his grief and regrets.

It had been so long since he had been confronted with those memories, his life had taken a turn upwards and he was happy where he was now, but being on a plane for the first time since the crash had gripped him in a way he couldn’t have expected.

Equally unexpected, and almost as terrifying as the flight itself was that, in his panic, he hadn’t been able to keep himself as composed, as guarded, as he usually was around her due to the boundaries that were dictated by the nature of their relationship. Like she had said, he was supposed to be the protector and yet she had been the one who was able to calm him down, protect him from the painful recollections that were crashing in on him.  

There had been a brief moment, when her eyes locked on his and she was holding his hand so comfortingly, that he had been close to doing something that definitely would have gotten him fired.

The little voice that he had been managing to ignore since that morning he had woken from dreaming about her, had finally shouted and made itself impossible to disregard.

He had feelings for her; but feelings that, for a million reasons, he couldn’t have for her, he had reminded himself.  

That same voice whispered, “ _be jealous_ ,” when she had been speaking to Dr. Palmer back at Smoak & Kuttler even though he knew that was a futile emotion.

Checking the time, he realized he needed to get ready to _do his job_ and accompany her to the restaurant, so he put those thoughts in a box and shut it tightly.

* * *

_The next morning…_

Felicity looked up from her laptop at the clicking sound of Oliver’s bedroom door opening. He stepped out into the hallway, rubbing his eyes sleepily before stretching, and her gaze unconsciously magnetized to the patch of bare skin that appeared when his t-shirt rode up.

“What are you doing up?” he asked, and her eyes snapped up to meet his confused ones.

“Couldn’t sleep.” She shrugged, “It’ll probably take some time before I’m used to the new room and bed. Some of my professors have started posting their syllabi, so I thought since I was just staring up at my bedroom ceiling, I’d be productive instead and start putting assignments and stuff into my calendar.”

He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his shorts and showed her the screen which was full of calendar update notifications, “I see that now.”

“Oh. Sorry about that. I guess I should change the settings on our sync, you don’t really need to know all that stuff.” She watched as he walked over to the little kitchenette and opened the fridge to pull out a bottle of water. “Why are you awake this early?”

“I’m going to try out a new gym,” he explained, taking a swig of water. “I always went at this time back in Starling, so I could get it in before I had to be at your house.”

She nodded in acknowledgement while wondering what other habits of his she would discover now that they lived together. Which was a concept she was still processing, seeing as it had been less than 24 hours since they first stepped foot into their spacious floor of her Uncle’s townhouse. Caroline had lived at the mansion as long as she could remember, and so did a few other staff members, so she didn’t understand why being under the same roof as Oliver felt so different than that had.

_Probably because you weren’t ogling their abs at 4:32am._

“You still want to leave for the office at seven, right?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah,” she nodded. She was supposed to be starting off her day meeting with some applicants for the position of her assistant that HR had screened since she hadn’t been able to convince her assistant back home to move with her to New York, and henceforth away from her boyfriend.

“Okay. I’ll be back long before that,” Oliver assured her, slinging a small duffle over his shoulder.

He started to head for the stairs and for some unexplainable reason she piped up, “Wait. Can I come with you?”

Glancing over his shoulder at her, he raised an eyebrow, “I— sure?”

She would not exactly consider herself a gym person. Sara had dragged her to a few various forms of torture in the form of work-outs, but for the most part she declined her offers to join her at Crossfit or Aerial yoga or whatever she was into that week. Occasionally she tried to hop on the elliptical, but more often than not she got distracted five minutes in by something that was “definitely more important” than working out.

So yeah, she was pretty much as confused as Oliver as to how she ended up in leggings, a t-shirt, and her Nikes, sliding into the backseat of the car to accompany him to his way-too-early in the morning work-out. Maybe it was channeling Sara-like behavior though that made her think of her text from yesterday.  

“Hey Oliver?” she piped up.

His eyes met hers in the rearview mirror, “Yeah?”

“Umm, so you know how back when Sara left for LA you said that if I needed to talk to someone, I could talk to you?” He nodded slightly and she continued, “Well that goes both ways. If you want. I mean, I was so focused on how moving meant that I was having to say goodbye to everyone that I didn’t really consider how you felt about leaving your family and friends behind in Starling and—”

“I’m just doing my job Felicity,” he deflected dismissively. “I signed the contract knowing from the beginning what it entailed.”

_Including the fine print regarding romantic entanglements, perchance? Did you read the fine print?_

“I know. I just don’t want you to feel like your whole life is just your job now because you don’t think there’s anything for you here except for being my bodyguard,” she clarified.

There was a momentary pause before he asked quietly, “What else is here for me other than that?”

“Well for starters, you have a gym buddy,” she replied enthusiastically, ignoring the way his voice had changed when he posed that question and his eyes weren’t quite meeting hers anymore. She wasn’t exactly sure what answer he had been reaching for, especially since not even a minute before he was brushing off her offer of friendship. She was too afraid of what the answer she really wanted to give him was, especially if Caroline was wrong and she was just projecting her own feelings too much into this whole situation again. “As long as I don’t die this morning. I haven’t worked out in quite a while. But you know that, because you go everywhere with me, and obviously we haven’t been hitting up the gym. Although I did try doing these YouTube videos for a hot second…”

She fell into a ramble to move on from whatever had happened a second ago and by the time they pulled up to the gym Oliver had scouted out, the moment had long passed and they were back to normal. He opened the car door for her and was on alert, scanning their surroundings, until they entered the building and she saw his shoulders relax slightly. Being in a new environment seemed to make him nervous. It didn’t help that they had been swarmed by paparazzi outside the restaurant the night before, confirming what her Uncle, and her Father even before that had said, about her not being left alone even in a new city. Everyone seemed to want to get the first pictures of her stepping out in her new city and her phone had buzzed non-stop while she was getting ready for bed with notifications of pictures and articles that had gone up online.

Her uncle had sent her a text from upstairs as she was pulling down the covers on her bed.

**UNCLE DANIEL: It looks like I’ve officially gone from being called Business Mogul Daniel Smoak to Felicity Smoak’s Uncle**

**FELICITY: An upgrade really ;)**

**UNCLE DANIEL: I’ll take it :) Happy to have you here kiddo**

Inside the gym she immediately felt overwhelmed and out of her element but she didn’t want Oliver to feel like he had to sacrifice his workout time just because she had tagged along so after they got their guest passes at the front desk, she left him to do his thing and found an elliptical.

She tried really hard not to stare, she really did.

Okay she probably could have tried a little harder but…

It was possible that he should consider being a superhero as an alternative career because whoa he was impressively strong.

At one point he lifted his shirt up to wipe sweat off of his face and if she was on the treadmill she definitely would have flown off the back at the view she got that was even better than the one back at the townhouse.

When he finished he came over to her and she did her best to act casual like she hadn’t been watching him the entire time.

“I want to do that,” she announced, getting down from the elliptical and pointing at the woman who was landing punches on a bag in the corner of the gym.

“You do?”

“Yeah.” She shrugged, “Why not? It looks like a good stress release and I could definitely use something more productive once school starts up than downing an entire pint of mint chip.”

He nodded in understanding and started to walk over to a second punching bag, “Okay.”

“Wait I didn’t mean today necessarily if you don’t want to stay any longer…”

“No it’s fine,” he assured her and pulled a roll of black wrap out of his duffel. “Give me your hands.” She held them out so he could carefully wrap her wrists and hands. “Not too tight?”  

She shook her head, “No it’s good.”

“Okay. So for starters, you want to plant your feet because—“

“Strong foundation equals strong punch,” she rattled off and he raised an eyebrow.

She lined herself up in front of the bag and tossed over her shoulder, “Are you forgetting who my best friend is? I’d like to think I would not be completely hopeless if someone cornered me in a dark alley.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and she could tell he was trying his best to keep an amused expression off of his face, “Okay, then let’s see what you’ve got.”

Narrowing her eyes in concentration, she threw her right fist at the bag and then her left before Oliver came around behind her and put his hands on her waist, causing her to pause as the air seemed to leave her in a whoosh.

“Keep your hips squared,” he commented softly, turning her slightly and she nodded mutely as all of her focus went straight to the warmth spreading across her skin from where his hands were. “And keep your wrists straight so you don’t jam them.”

“Okay,” she managed to get out and he lingered for a fraction of a second longer before dropping his hands and taking a step to the side. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him flex his hands before balling them into fists at his sides.

She took his instruction and threw some more punches that landed more solidly, causing the corners of her mouth to flick upwards in satisfaction. This could definitely come in handy when the work started to pile up.

“Nice,” he remarked and she could hear the pride lacing his voice. Biting her lip to keep her smile from growing into an obnoxiously wide grin, she refocused on the cadence of her hits.  

They stayed at the gym for a little longer and he gave her some more pointers, that were unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, she honestly wasn’t sure anymore) less hands on, before heading back to the townhouse to clean up and get ready to start day one at Smoak & Kuttler East.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is a day late, it was giving me so much trouble to get it the way I wanted, but it's all ready to go now and I'm excited for you guys to read it :) As always, thank you so much for all of your feedback on this fic, it's so encouraging and means a lot when I'm trying to juggle writing with my schoolwork to know that so many people look forward to updates. Enjoy the chapter!

“Okay so we have three PA applicants coming in this morning for you to talk with,” Eliza announced the second she stepped out of the elevator onto the executive floor, skipping right over any sort of customary greeting. Handing her a stack of files, she continued, “And then two more later in the day. I have all their information organized so that you can have an idea of who you’re talking to before they come in.”

“Oh okay, thank you.” She shuffled the files in her hands looking at the names written on them in flourish-y handwriting she recognized already as Eliza’s. “You didn’t have to take the time to put all this together for me, it’s not technically your job.”

“It’s no trouble,” Eliza assured her, falling into step beside her as she walked towards her office. “Until you make the hire, I’m doubling up as your assistant too. So, if I seem a little hyper at the moment it is because I’m pretty strung out on caffeine, but don’t worry about it. I am here to help. We cast way too wide of a net and literally got like a hundred applicants for the position, which is why it took a while for us to narrow things down to people who were actually qualified and didn’t just think you were hot.”

A mix of amusement and disbelief laced her voice as she asked, “How many of that sort of applicant did you have?”

“Tons…. HR had to clarify, in more professional terms of course, that being an assistant was more complex than fetching your coffee and making attempts to get in your pants.” Giving her a quick once-over, she amended, “Or skirt, I guess. Anyway, definitely no creeps in this group.” She tapped the stack of files reassuringly.

Out of her peripheral vision, she caught Oliver rolling his eyes.

A small smile appeared on her face as she suddenly remembered the morning she first met Oliver and Sara had offered to ask the “dad questions.”

_“Sir, what will you do if a young man is trying to engage with my daughter in an untoward manner?”_

In all honesty, she would have loved to see what he would have done if her PA would have tried to make a move on her. From what she knew about him, and saw of his physical capabilities at the gym that morning, it would probably be swift and brutal retribution.

Because he was her bodyguard.

Not for any other reason.

When they arrived at her office, Eliza made sure there wasn’t anything else she needed before hurrying off toward her Uncle’s office.

Taking a seat at her desk, she took a second to take in the sight of the morning light reflecting over the city outside her wall of windows before diving into the files to get a little insight on her candidates before they started to arrive.

* * *

Four hours later she had gotten through her first three interviews and she was starting to feel the combination of her lack of sleep last night, plus her workout that morning, wearing on her. Pressing the little button on the intercom on her desk, she got a quick response from Eliza.

“Felicity, how’d the interviews go?”

“Good, I think. I’m not sure if any of them are the right fit, but I haven’t really had the chance to mentally process yet, and I still have the two coming in later. I was hoping to get out of the office for a bit though and grab some coffee. I was wondering if you knew where the closest Starbucks is?”

“Oh no. Don’t go to Starbucks. I mean you can if you want,” Eliza added hastily. “But right across the street is a Jitters and in my humble opinion, it’s way better. They always cater meetings for us when we offer breakfast. They have these cronuts that are amazing. Like, _I’m warning you now that if you eat one you’re going to want five_ , amazing”

“Okay. Jitters it is,” she replied in amusement. “Thanks for the tip Eliza.”

Sliding her laptop into her tote and gathering up a few other things she headed for the door of her office where Oliver had been stationed all morning watching over things as the applicants came in and talked to her.

“Heading across the street for coffee,” she informed him and he nodded in acknowledgement. “So what did you think?” she asked as they fell into step together on the way to the elevator. “Of the applicants so far.”

“I don’t think any of them are going to pose a threat to your safety if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Well, okay that’s good, but you knew my last assistant and you know me. Did you get the sense that any of them this morning were the right fit?”

He glanced over at her as they entered the elevator, “If one of them was the right person, I don’t think you’d have to ask. I think you’d know.”

“You’re right.” She patted him on the arm and retracted her hand quickly, resisting the temptation to linger on the muscles that she now was more than aware existed underneath his jacket and shirt. “See, this is why I keep you around.”

He gave her the barest of smiles before looking away and they rode the rest of the way down in silence as she checked her phone.

**UNCLE DANIEL: Sorry I haven’t been in to see you yet today. Got hung up in a conference call. Everything going well?**

**FELICITY: It’s okay! Been busy interviewing PA applicants. Heading to Jitters now for a quick break.**

**UNCLE DANIEL: Good! If not before, see you at dinner.**

She was about to slip her phone into her pocket when it buzzed again.

**UNCLE DANIEL: Can you please bring me back a cronut?**

When she had finished shooting him a quick reply, the elevator doors opened and they headed out into the lobby.

“Can we walk?” she asked Oliver. “I Google mapped it and it literally is right across the street.”

He looked a little wary at the idea, but once he had most likely mentally assessed the possibilities of her being run over by a car or shot or harassed by paparazzi, and decided the chances were slim of any of that happening, he nodded his head in agreement, “Sure.”

“I think some fresh air will be nice,” she remarked as they arrived at the front doors of the building and he opened one for her. “Thank you.”

Squinting into the sun, she walked down the front steps down to the street level and looked for the coffee shop. Sure enough, just across the road was a sign that read “Jitters,” which she had completely missed when they had gotten to the office the evening before.

After a minute or two of waiting, they got the green light at the crosswalk and made their way across to enter the bustling coffee shop. At the counter she placed her order and then she found a table to set up camp at while Oliver positioned himself in a spot where he could watch both her and the door.

Even though she had told herself that she was going to be on a break, when her latte was brought to her table, she was deep in several internet tabs of the websites of clients she would be working with.

Glancing up from her laptop after some time had passed, she noticed that Oliver was talking to— well, it actually looked more like he was being talked at since he really didn’t like to engage in conversations when he was in bodyguard mode— a very pretty young woman who was wearing a barista’s apron and holding a tray of drinks. A little flare of possessiveness sparked inside of her and she closed her laptop before slipping it into her tote and meandering over to them to… just see if Oliver wanted rescuing.

“Oh, and here’s your coffee, black. I brewed you a fresh pot,” the woman was saying when she got close enough to them to overhear. She had an expression on her face that Felicity recognized, with amusement, was the usual result of the effect Oliver had on people when they first encounter his handsome face.

Oliver met her eyes and she could have sworn that a little bit of relief passed across his face when he noticed her approaching.

“Are you ready to return to the office?” he asked after he had taken his coffee from the barista, slipping into his more serious voice, the one he had used when he first started, and she half expected him to call her Miss Smoak.

The barista looked back and forth between them curiously and Felicity stuck out her hand in greeting, “Hi. I’m Felicity. Felicity Smoak.”

“Iris. Iris West,” she replied, shaking her hand warmly. “I was just talking to your—uh…”

“Bodyguard,” Felicity supplied and Iris’ eyes widened.

“Bodyguard? Wait what did you say your last name was again?”

“Smoak?”

Iris tilted her head, “Now why does that name—oh! Smoak, as in Smoak & Kuttler? Like the building right across the street?”

She nodded, “Yeah… it’s my family’s company and I just moved here from Starling so I work at this office now. It’s actually my first day so I’ve been interviewing assistant applicants but I had a break from that and I heard that the coffee here is good, which I can confirm now so… sorry, more information than you asked for. I do that a lot.”

Iris laughed, “It’s okay. That’s really cool that you—“

“West! I need someone to back me up here,” a barista called from the counter and she noticed that the line was getting a little out of control in length.

“Coming!” Iris responded before turning back to her. “I guess I should get back to work. But maybe I’ll see you around?”

“Definitely. My schedule requires a lot of caffeination and probably some more cronuts at some point too.” She held up the paper bag that was filled with the sugary pastries.

“Sounds good! It was nice to meet you Felicity.” She dipped her head at Oliver, “And you too Mr. Queen.”

After she darted off to assist behind the counter, Felicity looked up at Oliver. “I am ready to go, _Mr. Queen._ ”

Her voice was teasing and she could see him suppressing a smile that was threatening to turn up the corners of his mouth as he followed her lead out the door.

When they got back up to the executive floor, she dropped off a cronut with her Uncle who mouthed his thanks as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the phone, before stopping by Eliza’s desk and handing one to her.

“Ugh Felicity you shouldn’t have. I need to cut the addiction.” She took a bite and licked the powdered sugar off of her lips. “Who am I kidding. You’re the best. Good luck with your last two interviews.”

She knew within five minutes that it wasn’t going to work out with the first guy who came in because he reminded her far too much of the bodyguard-slash-overeager-puppy Rob, and she wasn’t interested in rehashing that experience day in and day out.

As the final applicant walked through the door, with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing a crisp black blazer over a pale pink dress, she sent up a silent prayer that she would be the right one and she could be finished with this process.

Taking a quick glance at the name written on the file folder at the bottom of the pile, she greeted the young woman, “Charlotte?”

* * *

The rest of the week fell into a routine and went by rather quickly. She got up at the most horrendous time of day so that she could go to the gym with Oliver before heading for the office where Charlotte would be waiting for her to debrief about what needed to be accomplished that day. Then she would set off with Oliver, turning the backseat of the car into her mobile office as she took trips all around the city to visit her new clients so she could familiarize herself with them and the services that they received from Smoak & Kuttler, whether it be database protection, custom software, etc. By the end of the week, she was pretty sure Iris was telepathically linked with her because it didn’t matter what time she stopped into Jitters, her latte appeared in her hand within seconds of her walking into the door and Oliver would take a little step closer to her side when Iris handed him his coffee with a big smile.

It was usually late by the time they made it back to the townhouse at night, and they would retrieve from the fridge whatever food had been prepared that evening by her Uncle’s personal chef before crashing on the couches up on her floor.

Their floor.

She was still getting used to it.

Oliver had started reading Robinson Crusoe and she was busy getting ahead in her textbook readings for the classes that were starting in a week, so they would hang out together in silence, despite her efforts to have conversations that weren’t completely one-sided, until she could no longer keep her yawning under control and she retreated to her bedroom for the night. Sometimes she would catch quiet murmurs of his nightly calls with Thea or his friend Tommy as she drifted off to sleep and think that Caroline must have been mistaken if he wanted to talk to everyone in his life except for her.

Friday dawned, and when she had finished up her new morning ritual of slamming her fists into a punching bag, she pulled her phone out of her gym bag to see a calendar notification on the screen.

**PT SHOWROOM OPENING PARTY 7PM**

Dialing a number she now had on speed dial, her assistant picked up after one ring.

“Hey Charlotte… What time is my last meeting today?”

“5:30 at Steve Madden in Long Island to consult with the IT department about redesigning their inventory software,” Charlotte rattled off almost immediately, adding to her suspicion that the girl’s brain was actually a computer.

 _Frack._ She was looking forward to that one because she could definitely foresee some new shoes coming out of it, but Palmer Tech was one of their biggest clients and, since he had been called away to Philadelphia unexpectedly for a few days, her Uncle would want her to be in attendance at the party as Smoak  & Kuttler’s representative.

“Umm can you do me a huge favor and see if we can get that pushed to next week? I have a party tonight that I somehow totally forgot about when we were lining up the schedule for this week.”

“You got it boss. I’ll send you a text as soon as I have a new date and time confirmed.”

She thanked her and hung up to go find Oliver and see if he was finished working out because she wanted to get an early start at the office if she was going to have to leave earlier than normal to get ready for the party.

* * *

He heard the click of her door opening and wrapped up his call, “Thea I’ve got to go, Felicity’s going to a party—yes I will tell her you loved the outfit she was photographed in on Wednesday. Okay? Talk to you later.”

Glancing over his shoulder, he swallowed hard and forced himself to stay composed as he took in the sight of her.  

“What do you think of this?” Felicity asked, smoothing her hands over the red lace fabric of a romper that was showing off her legs in a way that was entirely unfair to someone who was trying to keep his eyes averted. “I ordered it online a couple weeks ago and it looked amazing on the model but I’m a lot shorter and I don’t know if I can really pull it off—“

{[Check out her romper here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/839307636269023236)}

“You like great,” he interrupted her, his voice a little higher than he intended. Clearing his throat, he tried again, “It looks good on you. And that uhhh, the color will make it hard to lose track of you in a crowd.”

Like he was going to have any trouble keeping his eyes on her anyway. Great was an understatement, she looked incredible. Unwittingly his mind spun a different scenario, one where they were getting ready to go out together. Not together in the way that they always went places, but together in the way that she would sit in the passenger seat of the car and he would hold her hand while driving through the city and then they would walk into the room _with_ each other, not he a few paces back as he assumed his usual position of shadow.

Once again, he carefully shut those thoughts in a box and tucked them away in a corner of his mind.

Lately, she had been determined to make their relationship into something of a friendship, with her coming to the gym with him, and her comments about being someone he could talk to, and although he wanted that, he had realized pretty quickly that it was the professional boundaries of their relationship that kept things… safe. Bodyguard and client made their relationship clear, once the boundaries had been blurred, he was afraid friendship could too easily slip into something more. Something that he had reminded himself, on more than one occasion, couldn’t happen and yet he still found himself having to pack those thoughts away in the boxes that were now taking up more and more of the corner.

“It is bright,” she agreed, sounding a little uncertain. “But not too bright? Right?”

He snapped his attention back to her and tried to process what she was asking him, “Uhh…”

“Why am I even asking you this?” She shook her head. “I’m going to FaceTime Sara. Just give me a few more minutes and then we can head out.”

When she turned to head back into her bedroom, he did his very best to stifle a cough, which ended up coming out as more like a choking sound that she thankfully did not seem to hear.

Of course the back was open.

He wasn’t sure if he should be hoping that Sara gave the outfit her seal of approval or not.

* * *

“Felicity Smoak, look at you girl! That romper is killer!”

Felicity turned around at the familiar voice to see Iris approaching her, her arms outstretched.

“Oh,” she exclaimed in surprise when she wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

“Sorry,” Iris apologized hastily, letting her go. “I’m a hugger, I’ve got to remember not everyone is a hugger.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I’m just surprised to see you here.”

Iris held up a press pass in explanation, “I’m at NYU studying journalism and I’m covering this event for my internship with CatCo New York.”

“Ahh so you’re not aspiring to be a professional barista,” she teased.

“No,” Iris laughed. “But something’s got to pay the bills.”

They were interrupted by Ray’s voice coming over the sound system and they turned their attention to a podium at the end of the room where he gave a few remarks thanking everyone who had contributed to the design of the showroom and the developers of the new line of Smart Wearables. As soon as he was finished, Iris started to make a beeline for him.

“Gotta get a quote, I’ll try to find you when I’m done,” she called back over her shoulder as she left her.

The next three hours were a blur of meeting various people whose names she hoped she wasn’t supposed to have to remember because her brain was already jam-packed with new information from getting herself acquainted with her clients all week. A few times she spotted Iris weaving her way through the room, but she was in full on journalist mode now and she didn’t think she would be getting to spend any more time talking with her that evening. She ended up getting approached by some other reporters though who asked questions ranging from those related to the event, like what model of Smart Wearable she wore, to the more personal, such as how she was liking being in New York so far and what she missed the most about Starling.

After a woman, Andrea? No.… Amy? Or maybe it was Allison? No that didn’t seem right either… Anyway, after a woman who had been talking to her for 25 minutes about the app she was developing finally got pulled away by someone else, Felicity held up a hand to hide the yawn that she had been holding in during the entire conversation.

She caught Oliver’s eye from across the room mid-yawn and the corners of his mouth flicked up into an amused smile. Making her way over to him, she resisted the urge to lean her head against his shoulder.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think I’ve reached my limit for social interaction this week. I’m just going to go find Ray real quick to congratulate him and then we can head out.”

* * *

It never got old seeing her in her element, was always amazing to watch the way she conducted herself. As she shook hands and confidently strode through the room, it was easy to forget that only a few months ago he was dropping her off at her private _high school_. That she had stood in the middle of that crowded room at Katie Bowen’s party and had absolutely no idea what to do and yet here she was fielding questions from journalists and making small talk with people twice her age who were CEOs and magazine editors and designers. She stood out in her bright red, which Sara must have convinced her wasn’t _too_ bright, and it was like people were magnetized to her.

On the drive back to the townhouse, he glanced at her in the rearview mirror, “Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah. It was a little overwhelming after how crazy this week has been already, but despite the yawns, I did have some interesting conversations. I hope you weren’t too bored.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond before asking, “Do you get bored? Like with your job? I didn’t really think about that before, but I can imagine it’s not that exciting to just follow me around day in and day out. Except for that one time that I almost died, but maybe that was too exciting.”

He waited for a second to make sure she was done, because when she was really tired she could ramble on forever, before remarking, “It’s not that boring.”

“Really?” Her voice was laced in skepticism.

“Felicity, I’ve told you before that I like my job. I wouldn’t have picked up my entire life and moved across the country if I didn’t think you were worth—“ _Where was he going with this?_ “That this job was worth doing that for. There’s a whole list of clients that John could have reassigned me to if I wanted to stay, but I can guarantee that none of them would be as enjoyable to follow around as you are. Your life is far from boring.”  

“Oh. Thank you. But seriously, if you ever do get bored, just let me know. I’ll try to spice things up for you.” His eyebrows rose into his hairline and he could hear her smack her forehead, “I did not mean for that to sound so inappropriate. I just meant like, if there’s something that you like to do, uhh—“

As amusing as it could be to listen to her try to recover when she said something awkward, he decided to help her out, “Thea and I used to go to Starling Rockets games together a lot.”

“Okay,” she slid forward in her seat a little bit and he could sense enthusiasm in her voice. “So I bet with all my Uncle’s contacts, I could totally hook us up with some nice box suite seats somewhere if you wanted to go to a baseball game sometime. Do something that doesn’t revolve around me, you know? Wait, is it still baseball season?”

He laughed as he turned into the side street by the townhouse, “Yes, it is.”

“Good. Well, I will look into that and keep you posted.”

When he opened the car door for her, he did his best to keep a stupid grin off of his face at the thought of them going to a baseball game together. Not “together” in exactly the way he had been imagining earlier with the hand holding and everything, _which was good since that couldn’t be happening anyway_ , and he would still have to be thinking about her safety, but it would be different than the way things normally were. And as much as he was telling himself that he needed to keep their relationship professional, he also knew that she was right about him needing more for himself than just his job, and there was nothing in his contract that said they couldn’t be friends.

All he needed to do was just ignore the feelings he had for her that were more than friendly and everything would be fine.

Which was unfortunately easier said than done.

Upstairs, their living room was bathed in a mixture of moonlight and the bright lights of the city and it made her skin practically glow as she slipped out of her heels, leaving them on the floor by the door, and he followed her as she padded across the room to the hallway with their bedroom doors.

“Goodnight Oliver,” she whispered, as if she didn’t want to break the peaceful quiet in the house, the noises of the city only a murmur beyond the walls.

“Goodnight Felicity.”

“You’re not going to make me get up at 4am to go to the gym with you tomorrow, are you? Because I’m going to need a sleep-in Saturday after this week.”

He crossed his arms and pretended to be offended, “Okay, first of all, I do not _make_ you get up at 4am. I’m pretty sure it was your idea to be my gym buddy.”

“Fair enough,” she muttered with a little smile on her face.

“And second of all…” he lost his train of thought. “Just… get some good sleep. You deserve it after all your hard work this week.”

She nodded and turned around to reach for her doorknob and his heart sped up as he was presented with a close view of her exposed back, the intricate pattern of the red lace outlining her skin clear to him even in the dim lighting.

_Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it—_

He felt like he was watching his arm move instead of actually controlling it himself as it reached out to gently graze her soft skin with his knuckles. In the quiet of the hallway he could hear her breath hitch at his touch and he slid his hand down to loop around her waist and turn her back to face him again.

With wide eyes, she looked up at him in surprise, “Wha—“

Her words died on her lips as he tucked a strand of hair that had escaped from her neat ponytail behind her ear, his hand lingering on her cheek in a caress.

Somehow this… whatever he was doing, needed to stop, but all of his carefully constructed control was slipping away and the voice in his head that had first clued him in to the feelings he had been developing for her over the past few months was telling him that he should tip her chin up, lean in a little closer and—

When his face was only a few centimeters from hers, she suddenly took a staggering step backwards from him, forcing him to relinquish his hold on her waist. “I— umm…“ she shook her head, avoiding his eyes, and turned back around to push her door open and disappear behind it.

Left alone in the hallway, when the haze of confusion over her abrupt disappearance passed and the frustration with himself settled in, he stifled an exasperated groan and raked a hand down his face at the realization of what he had done. This was exactly what he had been afraid of happening if he forgot for even a second his proper place in her life.

His phone buzzed and he hesitantly slipped it out to see a notification of a text from John.

Enough time hadn’t passed for her to have already informed him of what just happened and he pushed that irrational fear out of his mind as he read the message.

**JOHN: Hope your week went well! Give me a call tomorrow to touch base?**

* * *

She felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest as she stood with her back pressed to the door, waiting to hear him walk away before she dared to move. When she heard the telltale sound of his door opening and closing, she released a deep breath that she had been holding and scrambled for her phone.

Sara answered after two rings and she didn’t even let her get in a greeting before the words tumbled out of her mouth, “We need to talk because something crazy just happened…”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the cliffhanger last week, although it was very fun to read everyone's reactions ;) A lot of you made some pretty accurate predictions of how this chapter will go and you're going to get your questions answered as to what both of them are thinking about what happened. Also, people have been asking about Oliver's age and so I thought I'd clarify here that he is 25. One last thing, I made some edits to chp. 7 regarding Tommy's character and it's not necessary to go back and read it if you don't want to, just know that there's going to be some comments about med school in this chapter that will seem kind of out of the blue without the explanation I added in chp. 7. I will stop rambling now so that you can get onto the chapter :) Enjoy!

“Whaaaaaaattt?” Sara exclaimed when Felicity relayed to her what had happened with Oliver a moment ago in the hallway. “That—wow.”

“I know!” She fell back into her mattress with a groan. “It was sweet and romantic and really hot all at the same time. Sara… he barely touched me and I felt like my entire body was on fire. It’s not like I didn’t want him to kiss me, I’ve been dreaming about that for months practically, but I didn’t think it would ever happen so I wasn’t prepared at all. I just panicked and retreated into my room. I mean, he is probably the most amazing kisser and I haven’t even kissed anyone since Barry Allen on the last night of Science Bowl Regionals in _tenth grade_. There’s a real possibility that I might have just spontaneously combusted. Melted all over the floor.”

Sara laughed, “Okay drama queen. Do you really think that’s what made you freak out though, or do you think it’s actually something else?”

Nibbling on her lip, she voiced her fear, “I guess a part of me felt like he was going to regret kissing me and so I didn’t want to let him get that far.”

“Why do you think he would regret it? It seems like you were right about him being into you.”

“Okay but that’s the thing, he has been carefully keeping our relationship as professional as possible under the circumstances, before tonight I could’ve just dismissed the little slips in his facade as me imagining things.” She propped herself up on her elbow. “I _was_ dismissing them because I didn’t want to pointlessly get my hopes up anymore, even with Caroline hinting at the possibility of him having feelings for me, because of all the reasons I knew nothing would ever happen between us. He’s been reluctant to even consider me a friend, so this is a line that there’s no way he would actually want to cross if he was thinking clearly. I didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t stay because he kissed me. I can’t lose him.”

Everything had been going so well all evening. In the car she had been ecstatic when he had opened up to the possibility of them doing something he wanted to, something that wouldn’t make him feel like his entire life revolved around his job, because it felt like a step in a comfortable direction, one that still fit within the acceptable bounds of their relationship.

Why did he have to go and make everything infinitely more complicated in a matter of 30 seconds?

Did she make things even worse with the way she reacted?

Could her bed just swallow her up so she wouldn’t have to deal with any of this?

“Well…” Sara began tentatively. “I know it’s so tragically boring to have relationships built on open communication, but it sounds like you and Oliver need to just rip the band aid off and have a conversation about whatever is going on between you two so that you can be done playing these guessing games and instead figure out what you should do about the situation.”

“Or maybe in the morning we’ll both just pretend it never happened. I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

“Felicity…” Sara trailed off and she could hear muffled shouting in the background. A moment later she spoke again, “Sorry, I’m being called on to set. Can we hit pause on this and I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Of course, call me whenever you get a chance.”

When she hung up and was just left alone with her thoughts swirling around in her head, she knew it was going to be a long night.

* * *

 

Oliver checked the clock for what was probably the fourteenth time that hour, time was moving so slowly he had no idea how this day would ever end.

After an icy cold shower the night before to get his head screwed back on straight, he had laid in bed staring at the ceiling trying and failing not to replay the events that had occurred in the hallway, the feel of her skin, the way her blue eyes had sparkled behind her glasses when she looked up at him in surprise, the way her demeanor had changed so abruptly before she disappeared into her room. His eyelids finally fell heavily after he had mentally chastised himself for acting so thoughtlessly.

When he woke up that morning from a mercifully dreamless sleep, he knew he had to talk to her, had to at least apologize before he spoke with John.

_“…our relationship with them is professional, and we can’t forget that.”_

His words from the day of her birthday had echoed in his head over and over again like a warning since he had realized he was developing feelings for her, and yet he had still gone and forgotten them, crossed a line he never should have. Considering she once wanted him to be as invisible as possible, it was a big deal that she had even been offering her friendship to him, and he had gone and ruined that at the soonest opportunity, just like he had feared he would.  If she wanted him to leave, to ask for reassignment, he would understand.

The problem was that it was already 11am and she hadn’t yet emerged from her bedroom. He knew she was awake, he had heard her footsteps, the sound of water running in her bathroom so it definitely seemed like she was avoiding him. Knowing her though, there was no way she was going to last much longer without some coffee and breakfast, and a peace offering might be a good way to lead into the conversation he was dreading.

Hesitantly, he knocked on her door, “Hey Felicity?”

There was an indistinguishable mumble from the other side that sounding like she was acknowledging him.

“Are you planning on heading out anywhere in the next hour?”

“No.”

“Okay. I’m just going to run out quick then.”

“That’s fine.”

Backing away from her door, he grabbed his keys and wallet to drive over to Jitters.

* * *

 

“Heyyyy Mr. Queen,” Iris greeted him when he stepped up to the counter.

“I’m not wearing my suit today, you can call me Oliver.”

“Where’s Felicity?” she asked as she grabbed a cup and wrote his usual order on it.

“She’s uhh…” he stuffed his hands into his pocket. “She’s enjoying a quiet morning at home.”

“Mmm lucky her, I was up late finishing my article after the party and then I had to be here for opening shift this morning.” Iris grabbed a second cup and paused with her marker poised to write on it, “I’m assuming you’re picking up her usual.”

He nodded, “And some cronuts please.”

“Coming right up.”

Stepping to the side, he waited for the order to be filled and fell into his usual habit of watching everyone who was coming in and milling about the coffee shop. His phone started ringing and he pulled it out to see Tommy’s contact information flashing on the front.

“Hey man, what’s up?” he asked when he tapped the screen to accept the call.

“What’s up is that I just got done eating breakfast with your little sister and she was showing me pictures of your girl at some party last night… I was not aware of how hot she was. You’re supposed to be helping me out while I’m in med school and have no time to go out and meet girls, why didn’t you introduce me to her when you guys were still in Starling?”

He rolled his eyes, “Tommy, she just turned 18 less than a month ago, and besides that, I don’t think she would be into you.”

_Or more accurately, I would be jealous if she was into you._

“I’m wounded,” Tommy replied in faux-offense. “Haven’t you watched any of those medical dramas on tv right now? The ladies love doctors.”

Iris slid his and Felicity’s drinks across the counter with a paper bag filled with cronuts and he mouthed her a thanks, which she returned with a smile and a little wave as he ducked out of the shop.

He got into the driver’s seat of the car to head back to the townhouse, “Okay well, if she’s still single when you’ve got your MD, I’ll give you her number.”  

“I’m holding you to that.” He lowered his voice, “But really I’ve got to know, how do you handle spending everyday with someone like her, knowing you can’t hit it?”

“Because I’m not a teenage boy with out of control hormones,” he fired back, probably a little more forcefully than necessary.

_And yet you did let things get out of control._

Tommy let out a low whistle, “Ease up man, I was just joking. I know you don’t think of her like that.”   

“Yeah, I don’t,” he lied through his teeth. “Spending the day with her is just my job. I’m responsible for her safety—“ He thought about the times that it had been something more than that though, like when she had been upset at Sara’s departure or when he had stood at the counter in the kitchen while Caroline wrote out her favorite recipes for him. “--and occasionally her overall well being when the need arises. It’s like having another little sister to look after.”

He wasn’t sure if he was clarifying that more for Tommy’s sake, or his own. Either way he knew he was way too far beyond the point where he could have convinced himself of that being the truth.

They spoke for a little longer while he made his way back to the townhouse before Tommy had to hang up to head to the hospital and he had to face Felicity.

For the second time that morning, he knocked softly on her door, “Felicity?”

A few seconds passed slowly before he heard her respond, “Yeah?”

“I got coffee and breakfast from Jitters…” He was about to say that he would leave it on the kitchen counter for her when she spoke up.

“Oh. Come on in.”

He froze for a second in surprise that she was so welcoming after hiding out all morning. Her bedroom seemed like the last place she would want him to be.

When he finally managed to remember how to use his limbs, he opened the door slowly and took a step in. She was propped up in bed in a nest of pillows watching something on her laptop and wearing a Smoak & Kuttler t-shirt that looked about three sizes too big and was slipping off her one shoulder. There was a pair of polka dot sleep shorts peeking out from the bottom of the hem of her shirt and he made a very deliberate effort not to notice how much of her thighs were showing lest he get himself in trouble. _Again._

Her eyes that looked tired behind her glasses brightened when they zeroed in on the latte with her name written on it that he was holding.

She set her laptop aside and reached her arm out for him to hand it over, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He set the paper bag down on her nightstand beside a stack of textbooks. “And here’s some cronuts too if you’re hungry.”

He stood awkwardly beside her bed then, unsure how to even bring up what happened the night before with her suddenly acting like everything was normal and fine.

She tapped her closed laptop, “Sara sent me a prescreening copy of the pilot of the show she’s a part of the stunt team for, so I was watching that. It’s about these three ex-federal agents who are now a team of assassins for hire, and Sara’s the double for one of them. She didn’t get hired until after it got picked up by the network, so she didn’t work on this particular episode, but it was really good. Like, I’m not even going to have to pretend to enjoy watching the show for Sara’s sake.”

When she finished talking, a silence settled over the room and that’s when things no longer felt normal and fine. As she took a sip of her coffee, avoiding his eyes, and he shifted his feet side to side awkwardly, he knew the elephant in the room needed to be addressed.

“So… last night,” he began.

He saw her chest rise and fall in a deep breath but she still wasn’t looking at him.

“I just want to apologize,” he continued, his words coming out in a rush. “I wasn’t thinking—I umm didn’t mean to—uhh the implications—“ Finally he settled on, “It was a mistake and I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable. I want to assure you that something so unprofessional won’t happen again, but I understand if you would prefer that I ask John to replace—“

“No,” she blurted out, interrupting him. “That won’t be necessary. I mean, weird stuff happens all the time when people are sleep deprived, and I didn’t get a lot of sleep last week so I’m sure you didn’t either and—it’s fine. I know you didn’t like, mean anything by it; that would be unthinkable, right? So, let’s just forget it happened.”

_Just…forget about it?_

That was unlikely, but he could pretend if it meant being able to stay. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed that she was able to brush it off so easily.

“Okay, yeah. Umm, thank you.” He started to back out of the room, eager to be finished with the encounter.  

“Thank _you_ for breakfast,” she replied cheerily, peeking into the bag of cronuts.

“You’re welcome.”

* * *

 

She watched as he closed the door behind him and her shoulders slumped.

She might have been the one to propose that they forget about the whole thing, because she knew that was probably what Oliver wanted anyway, but no one wants to hear someone they really like say that kissing them, or almost kissing them (she had been right to step back when she did, this would be so much worse if they would have actually kissed), was a mistake.

Even if in their case it probably was.

You didn’t just forget a moment with someone that made your breath hitch and your heart race, especially when you had to see that person every single day, and she didn’t know how she could be around him and just pretend that it hadn’t meant something to her. That she wasn’t hurt by the fact that he had dangled a maybe in front of her, a “maybe he does feel the same way I do,” only to have it be explained away as nothing. It had been enough of an effort to keep up the act for the ten minutes he had been in her room.

She heard the sound of the television out in the living room flipping on and what sounded like sports announcers floating in through the walls, reminding her of their conversation in the car before everything had spiraled out of control.

If they were going to act like nothing had happened, nothing had changed, then they were still going to a baseball game at some point. She sent a quick text to her Uncle inquiring about whether he knew anyone with a box suite before setting her phone aside to eat breakfast.

This day was going to drag on forever if she was stuck at home alone with Oliver, but leaving meant he had to go with her, so she saw no way out of the predicament….

Until she pulled one of the napkins out of the Jitters bag.

_Felicity! Sorry I disappeared at the party last night… Call me sometime? Iris J_

Her number was scribbled underneath the note and Felicity retrieved her phone to dial it.

“Hello? This is Iris West.”

“Hey Iris… it’s Felicity.”

“Felicity! So good to hear from you, I was hoping my note wouldn’t get destroyed by cronut grease but I also felt uncomfortable giving my number to Oliver because I think he thinks I’m trying to hit on him.”

“I wonder why he would get that impression…” she teased.

“Okay, so maybe I am occasionally a little flirty,” she admitted. “But he’s just so hot. I mean, you can’t possibly be blind to that.”  

“Mmm no, never noticed.” _Time to change the subject!!!!!_  “Anyway, so I was just wondering if you wanted to come over to the townhouse today to hang out… if you’re not working, or busy doing something. Don’t feel like you have to though.”

“No, I would love to!”

She breathed a sigh of relief, “Really?”

“Yeah! I actually just got finished my shift at Jitters and I was on my way back to my apartment to do homework but blegh, boring. Text me your address?”

“I will. And hey, bring your swimsuit too. My Uncle has a pool on the roof that I’ve been waiting for a day off to use.”

“A pool on the roof? Girl I almost forgot how rich you are. See you soon!”

Iris hung up and she texted her the address of the townhouse before climbing out of bed to dig one of her swimsuits out of the boxes she hadn’t gotten around to unpacking yet with her crammed schedule. Caroline would have had everything sorted out and hanging neatly in her new closet, sorted by color to boot, within an hour of their arrival at the beginning of the week without her even having to ask, but she felt weird requesting one of the housekeepers here do it for her.

So, her closet was still filled to the brimming with stacks of boxes and she sought out the one that had swimwear written in sharpie on the side. Selecting a pale pink bikini that she had gotten for a trip she and her parents had taken two summers ago to the Bahamas, she grabbed a sundress to wear over it, and headed for the bathroom to change and pull her hair up into a ponytail.

{[Check out Felicity's swimsuit here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/842721568753106944)}

Iris sent her a text when she arrived and she ran downstairs to let her in and bring her up to her floor to grab some stuff to take up to the roof like bottles of water, sunblock, and towels.

“What are you guys doing?” Oliver inquired curiously, standing up from the couch.

“Hey Oliver!” Iris greeted him with a big smile. “We’re going up to the pool, are you going to join?”

_No, he is most definitely not. The point was to avoid him today._

Oliver glanced over at her for confirmation and she pasted on a smile, “You should, it’s too nice a day to be stuck inside.”

Surprise lit up his face, “Okay. I’ll umm… be right up after you.”

They headed up to the roof and Iris grabbed her arm excitedly, “Do you think he’ll take his shirt off? Oh! Do you think he’ll want help putting sunblock on his back? Because I totally volunteer… unless you call dibs.”

She stifled a groan. “Oh, no. We don’t have that sort of relationship… at all. We keep things pretty professional.”

_And when we don’t, as recently discovered, it doesn’t turn out so well._

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. So does that mean I can call dibs or…?”

She just shook her head and laughed, having a feeling if Sara was here she would be having a similar conversation.

After Iris helped her with her sunblock and they were propped up on the lounge chairs soaking up the hot end-of-summer sun, Oliver appeared on the roof in swim trunks _and_ a t shirt, to her chagrin? Relief? It was still a little unclear.

He looked over in their direction and she didn’t miss his gaze stumbling over the sight of her in her tiny swim suit before he averted his eyes and set himself up with his book on the edge of the pool with his legs hanging in the water.

* * *

 

He was pretty sure she was trying to get him fired with her choices of attire as of late.

In high school and his brief stint in college his type had always been tall and leggy with long dark hair, she would have probably been a girl he overlooked.

How he wished he could just overlook her now.

_She’s closer in age to Thea than she is to you._

Although, he felt a little less weird about the age difference between them since finding out that Tommy thought she was hot too. But still…

_Her parents would freak out and have you fired if they knew._

_John would literally kill you if he found out you were attracted to someone he considered a little sister._

Why did all those mental reminders just delete themselves from his brain whenever he saw her lately?

It wasn’t just wrong to have such feelings for her, it was distracting. And distractions were not okay in his line of work. When he was on the phone with John that morning he was filled in on a string of serial kidnappings of the children of wealthy families occurring in the Hamptons that the local authorities were trying to keep a tight lid on to avoid panic, but John had heard about from one of his friends who was a detective working on the case, and it was a good reminder of what he was here to do.

Which was not: fall in love with Felicity.

He forced himself to focus on the words on the pages of his book instead of glancing over at the lounge chairs where she and Iris were laughing about something.

* * *

 

After a while it got a little too toasty just sitting out and they decided it was time for a dip in the pool. Oliver looked up at them as they approached and quickly moved away from the edge and over to a lounge chair.

“Okay do you think I should say something,” Iris whispered. “Because I’m not actually trying to hit on him and I would really like to come over again sometime, many times maybe, so I don’t want to make things awkward.”

“It’s not you he’s avoiding,” Felicity muttered, dipping a toe in the water.

Iris looked up at her in confusion as she lowered herself into the pool, “Why would he be avoiding you?”

“Oh no, I just mean, he was reading a book, so he probably didn’t want to accidentally end up in the splash zone,” she hastily clarified.

She could see herself becoming good friends with Iris, but they just were not at the point yet where she felt comfortable spilling the details of what had happened between her and Oliver like she had been with Sara.

“Besides,” she continued, joining her in the water. “He’s used to it. My best friend from home messed with him all the time, basically making a game out of trying to get a reaction out of him because he’s always so serious. You can’t look like that and not expect—”

“Okay so you aren’t blind to that,” Iris interrupted. “I was honestly getting worried that your glasses weren’t strong enough.”

“Hey!” she complained, splashing her with water. “My glasses work just fine.”

Iris grinned and splashed her back, “Watch the hair. I’ve got a date tomorrow night.”

“Oh?” She jumped on the opportunity to shift the subject off of her and Oliver.

“Yeah, it’s with a guy who’s at the NYPD Police Academy and wants to be a detective, which means my dad is basically going to kill me, but he’s so sweet and I see him all the time at Jitters so finally I caved and agreed to go out to dinner.”

“Wait back up, why would your dad kill you?”

“I’m a cop’s daughter, who wasn’t allowed to follow in his footsteps, the last person he would want me dating is a cop,” Iris explained. “But, Central City is far enough away that he doesn’t have to find out about it and I can avoid a lecture.”

“You’re from Central City?” Iris nodded and she continued, “We have a lot of clients in CC that I handled when I was working at the Starling office. Do you think you’ll move back after you graduate?”

Iris shrugged, “Probably? I am really close with my Dad, despite our disagreements, I have friends there, and I could work for CCPN. But at the same time, I’m loving my internship with CatCo, so I’ve also contemplated moving to National City to work at the main offices. Some people would say I’m crazy to want to work under the same roof as Cat Grant, but she’s been out to the New York offices a few times since I started there, and she might be a little intimidating, but it’s just because she’s the best at her job and she knows it.”

They floated in the pool for an hour or so, talking about all kinds of random stuff, getting to know each other better beyond the brief conversations they had had throughout the week at Jitters, and Felicity started to feel like New York wasn’t quite the big and lonely place she had been worried it would be when she was preparing for the move. She just might have found, in the words of Sara, the “Kim to her Kourtney” for taking on the city.

When they had moved back to their lounge chairs, Iris pulled her phone out to check her notifications and out of the corner of her eye Felicity noticed a slightly familiar face on her home screen.

“Hey wait, who is with you in that picture?” Felicity asked.

“Who, Barry?” She held up her phone. “It’s kind of an older picture, but this is my best friend.”

“No way.” She laughed, “That is so crazy.”

Iris raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

“I’ve met Barry,” she explained. “Yeah we actually kissed on the last night of Science Bowl Regionals a few years ago.”

She heard something crash and looked over to see that Oliver had dropped his phone on the pool deck and was now pretending to act like he wasn’t totally interested in seeing where this conversation went next.

But she knew better.

Swallowing the smirk that was threatening to show on her face she continued, “And let me tell you, he is an _amazing_ kisser. I was so mad we got interrupted only a few minutes after he came to my room because my driver arrived and I had to catch my flight home. I haven’t seen him since because I had to drop the Science Bowl team when I started working more hours at the company. I haven’t forgotten him though.” She shrugged, “It would probably be really hard for just any guy to top that memory for me.”

Barry was one of the most awkward, though very sweet, boys she had ever met. When he finally managed to make eye contact with her after admitting that he had had a crush on her since she laughed at his joke at the opening night icebreaker trivia competition, the one brief kiss that happened was actually really nice, but she was definitely sensationalizing here for her eavesdropper’s sake.

What she was trying to accomplish though, she really wasn’t sure.

“Wow.” Iris shook her head in surprise before muttering to herself, “You go Bar.”

“Sorry.” She blushed even though her over sharing was completely intentional and mostly untrue. “That was probably a little TMI seeing as he’s your best friend.”

“No, you have no idea how long I’ve been trying to set him up with some nice girl who can truly appreciate him.” Iris grinned. “Adorable nerds are a rare species. I’m just surprised he never mentioned you to me when he was telling me about that trip. But hey, he’s actually coming out to visit next weekend, we should do dinner or something.”

She fiddled with her sunglasses, “Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude…”

Iris put a hand on her shoulder, “I would be remiss not to reunite two people who are probably perfect for each other.”  

_Why not?_

If it hadn’t been clear before that dating her bodyguard was completely unrealistic, it certainly was after the past 24 hours, there was no point in holding out like something would change. A sort-of date with a guy who wasn’t on her parents’ payroll was exactly what she needed to get Oliver off her mind.

“I would love to,” she replied. “I’ll be flying back into the city on Thursday night after my last class and I’ll be working during the days I’m here, but any evening should be free.”

“Great! I’ll call him later and let him know. Are you ready for school to start up? This internship has been keeping me so busy, plus working at Jitters, I know I’m not ready to throw classes back into the mix.”

“I’m doing a special accelerated program to get a double masters in the same time that most people get an undergrad, which took me forever to get permission from the Dean of Students and Provost to even attempt because it’s apparently insane, so no I’m definitely not ready to juggle that with my job.”   

She had a feeling this was going to be the last time she was just relaxing for a while, and even now she probably should be doing some work.

“Are you like, ever going to sleep?” Iris asked, wide-eyed.

“Well…” she gave her a sheepish look.

“Oliver!” Iris called over to him and he looked up. “Make sure she sleeps.”

“Don’t worry, I already have my orders from her mother and Caroline,” Oliver replied with a small smile before ducking back into his book.

“Who’s Caroline?” Iris asked, opening a bottle of water.

“My housekeeper back at home. She’s sort of like an Aunt to me though.” She dropped her voice to a whisper, “Even she had a little crush on Oliver.”

Iris laughed, “No one is immune to that handsome face.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that this fic is "slow burn," but I promise I won't drag things out forever for y'all :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is up a little later than usual, it took me a while to write because I already have the next few chapters after this one planned out and my brain was full with what's going to happen in them, but I needed to take a step back and write this one to actually get us there lol. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter and, as always, I would love to here your thoughts. Your feedback on this story has been so encouraging :)

When the sky started turning vibrant shades of pink and orange, the sliding glass doors that led into the house opened and her Uncle stepped out.

“Well I’m glad to see the pool is finally getting some use,” he remarked, surveying the scene of Felicity and Iris floating on some inner tubes they had found in a storage chest. Oliver was stretched out on one of the recliners on the phone with who she was pretty sure was Thea based on the snippets she had overheard of their conversation.

“Hey Uncle Daniel!” Felicity waved. “How was your trip?”

“It was good, thanks for holding down the fort here.” He slipped his shoes off and rolled his pant legs up before sitting on the edge of the pool. “I had this great idea when the renovations were finished here that I would actually use the pool, but I somehow conveniently forgot that launching a new region of a business is an all time-consuming endeavor that doesn’t allow much time for lounging around.”

“Well we have been enjoying it today,” Felicity assured him, gesturing to her and Iris. “This is my new friend Iris,” she introduced her. “Iris, this is my Uncle.”

Iris paddled herself closer to them, “It’s nice to meet you Mr… Smoak?”

“Yes, but please, call me Daniel. It’s nice to meet you as well Iris. Will you be staying for dinner? My chef is making grilled pizzas and I can have him throw one on for you as well.”

“I would love to, but I really should get going. Classes start for me on Monday, and I have some assignments that are due on the first day that I have already spent the entire day procrastinating on. Thank you for offering though, and for letting me spend the day at your home.”

“Of course, friends of Felicity are always welcome here.” A smile flicked up the corners of his mouth, “Although maybe I should retract that statement considering Miss Lance’s track record of breaking down walls.”

“It happened once,” Felicity protested in defense of her friend and her Uncle laughed. She looked over at Iris, “Sara, my friend I was telling you about who’s in LA now, she broke a glass wall in my office back in Starling because she sent a lamp flying through it while practicing her backflip.” Iris raised her eyebrows in amusement and she continued, “The look on the maintenance person’s face while she sheepishly explained what happened was priceless, and there’s really no chance of anyone forgetting the incident.”

“That’s so great. I’m definitely going to have to meet her eventually.”

“Yes! You two would get along so well. I’m really hoping she’ll have an event or something in the city to promote her show and then you’ll get a chance.”

They got out of the pool and started to towel off so that Iris could head home and her Uncle took down her request for her pizza toppings to relay to his chef.

“Okay, and Oliver, what would you like on yours?” he asked, taking a step over to him after she answered with pineapple and extra cheese, and Oliver looked up in surprise. He never ate with them in the dining room when they were having meals as a family back in Starling, which with their schedules, except for the occasional Sunday dinner, usually ended up being just breakfast anyway. By the time she was even downstairs in the morning, he had already eaten in the kitchen with Caroline. With the craziness of moving in and her Uncle being away for a good portion of the week, they hadn’t eaten a meal together and she was curious to see if he would be okay with eating with them or if that would be too “part of the family” than he was comfortable with.  

“Oh, umm…. green peppers, olives, and mushrooms. And I don’t want to intrude, so I can just eat in the kitchen, or upstairs—”

Her Uncle crossed his arms over his chest, a teasing smile on his face, “Oh c’mon, I don’t think Felicity and I are that terrible of dinner company.”

“I—“ He glanced over at her and she shrugged encouragingly. “Okay,” he resigned.

“Great, I’ll see you two downstairs in an hour. Again, nice to meet you Iris. Hopefully you can stay for dinner sometime.” He disappeared through the sliding glass doors and after gathering up their things, the three of them followed.

Once she had walked Iris down to the first floor to wait with her for her Uber and say goodbye, she headed back up to her floor to get changed for dinner.

“So, did you seriously ask for pineapple on your pizza?” Oliver asked when she walked past him as he was coming out of his bedroom, changed into a pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt.

She paused and narrowed her eyes, “You sir have no room to judge pizza toppings if you think olives are acceptable.”

He raised an eyebrow defensively, “What’s wrong with olives?”

“Umm, besides everything? Pineapple is sweet and delicious, pairs perfectly with mozzarella and tomato sauce, and olives are just gross,” she insisted, not even noticing as she took a little step closer to him.   

“Okay, no. Olives are delicious, and Pineapple on pizza is an abomination,” he resolved, matching her step.

“Wow.” She shook her head, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can be friends with someone who has such a wrong opinion.”

There was a brief moment of silence before he replied hesitantly, his voice a little lower, “Are we friends?”

The hallway suddenly seemed very narrow as she became aware of how close they had gotten to each other during their impassioned defense of their pizza toppings of choice. Her gaze flicked down from his eyes to his mouth and she swallowed, thinking about how close they had been to kissing the night before in this same spot. How awkward things had been that morning because of it, and how much worse it would be if there was a repeated incident.

“Yeah,” she replied faintly before looking back up at him and echoing it a little stronger. “Yeah. Of course we’re friends. But you’re on thin ice with your pizza opinions buddy, so watch yourself.”

Turning away so she didn’t accidentally do something stupid, she gave him a little smile over her shoulder before opening the door to her bedroom and slipping inside.

* * *

Felicity and her Uncle were discussing the details of her new Helicopter that was going to be transporting them back and forth to Massachusetts starting on Monday, but he was barely paying attention to the conversation as he found himself distracted by a perfect curl that kept falling in her face. It was very rare that he saw her with her hair like this, back in Starling it was usually straightened or back in her standard ponytail whenever he was around, but it had air-dried in the sunshine after being wet from the pool and was now a mess of soft looking bright blonde curls. Add to that the sprinkling of fresh freckles across her nose and cheeks that were a little rosy from too much sun, and she looked younger and more relaxed than he had seen her since he had started working for her.

It made him realize how much effort she put into always looking polished and put together. From the amount of times she had been online shopping in the backseat of the car when they were driving places, he knew she genuinely liked dressing up and looking nice, but he wondered if part of the reason she was intentional about the way she presented herself was because she worried about people taking her seriously. Usually she exuded confidence, but there had been times where she had admitted to him that she wasn’t sure she was capable of the role she had been given. He wished she could watch herself from his perspective sometime, see the way she conducted herself and how she charmed people and earned their respect so effortlessly. It was one of the things he admired most about her…. and the reason she had been able to so easily make herself dangerously irresistible to him. As much as he liked the way their relationship was now, that even with what had transpired she was still comfortable considering him a friend, things were certainly less complicated when she considered him an irritating inconvenience and only acknowledged his existence when necessary. Trying to keep himself from kissing her was not exactly the challenge he had had in mind when he told John he was up for one with this job.

He was drawn back into the table conversation when he heard Daniel say, “Oh and regarding your text about the baseball tickets, Palmer Tech has a suite at Citi Field and Ray said you are welcome anytime, as long as you give him enough heads up to get you passes. The Starling Rockets are actually going to be in town coming up in a few weekends, so that might be a good time to go. Although I must say, I was surprised when I got that message, I didn’t think you really cared much about sports.”  

“Oh, well, not typically. But Oliver does, so I thought it would be something fun to do that would be a nice break from the usual routine.”

“Ahh, that makes more sense then,” Daniel remarked. “Speaking of Palmer Tech, how was the showroom opening party? I was disappointed I had to miss it but I couldn’t move my meetings around to get back earlier. I always love attending industry events because you can have conversations with so many interesting people.”

“Well last night was certainly unexpectedly interesting,” she muttered and he stiffened.  

“And they used the same caterer that we have used for events in the past, so I know the food had to have been good,” her Uncle continued, either oblivious to her interjection or dismissing the tone of it.

“The food… yeah the food was good.” Felicity seemed a little out of it suddenly and he wondered if it was because her mind had gone in the same direction his had at the mention of last night.  

“And you looked beautiful in the pictures I saw,” her Uncle continued. “Red is a phenomenal color on us Smoaks, so good choice.”

Felicity blinked a few times and returned from her haze with a smile lighting up her face, “Thank you.”

They finished up dinner and he returned to his room while Felicity stayed downstairs with her Uncle a little longer discussing the client he had been meeting with in Philadelphia. Remembering the conversation between her and Iris earlier, he pulled out his phone to make a call to Digg.

“Hey Oliver, what’s up?”

“Felicity is going on an—umm… well I think it’s sort of a date next weekend, and I was just wondering what like the protocol is for that and if we needed to run a background check on the guy.”

He was being ridiculous; he was 100% aware of that. He hated the way jealousy had burned inside his chest earlier when she was talking about this Barry kid. It wasn’t even really directed towards Barry specifically; he was just jealous that people who weren’t him could have feelings for her without negative consequences.

“Do you have a reason to be concerned? Felicity’s always been pretty discerning about who she chooses to spend time with….”

“You’re right. It’ll be fine.” _I definitely won’t be dying on the inside the entire night._ “I’m being too over cautious.”

“There’s a fine line between trusting her judgement of people and being negligent in our job, but yes, I don’t think one date requires looking into the guy too much. Are you ready for next week?”

Grateful for the change in subject, he responded, “Yes. I went over the information you sent me about the area we’ll be living in during her days there. Seems like a pretty safe neighborhood that her apartment is in.”

“Okay, good. And I have made sure the administration is aware that she’s going to have personal security with her, so you shouldn’t run into any problems with that. Despite the authorities attempts to keep things quiet, with everything that’s been happening recently in the Hamptons, paranoia is spreading and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other wealthier students on campus are going to be accompanied as well. You haven’t told Felicity about the kidnappings, have you?”

He shook his head, “No.”

“That’s a good call, she’s got enough to be stressed about, I don’t want her to worry unnecessarily about something that is a slim possibility. Just keep doing your job as well as you have been, and she’s going to be perfectly fine.” There was a muffled voice in the background and then John spoke up again, “I’ve got to go, Lyla just got home from work, but we’ll touch base again once you guys get to Massachusetts.”

* * *

**SEPTEMBER** _Cambridge,_ _Massachusetts_

Before her eyes even opened she became aware of the sugary sweet scent of cinnamon pastries floating into her room.

Home. It smelled like home.

First days of school at home that were always accompanied by a cinnamon roll or two baked fresh by Caroline for breakfast before she would be off to tackle a new grade.

Curiously, she fumbled for her glasses on her night stand and grabbed her phone before crawling out of bed and cracking open the door. Another wave of the familiar smell hit her and she licked her lips hungrily.

What were the chances that Caroline was here? Slim, very slim.

Padding out into the hallway, she made her way to the kitchen where… Oliver was standing in sweatpants and a t-shirt, frosting a pan of cinnamon rolls.

“Oliver…” she moved closer to the counter. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“What? Oh, you thought I made these for you?” A teasing smile turned up the corners of his mouth. “I just wanted to eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but since you walked in, I feel obligated to give you one now.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, which made her realize she probably should have put a bra on before she followed her nose out to the kitchen, and fixed him with a look.

“Okay, so Caroline might have told me this was a tradition at your house,” he acknowledged. “I—She thought you might appreciate a little bit of home on your first day. I practiced her recipe a few times at home for Thea, so hopefully they taste pretty close.”

“Oh…” A sudden urge to give him a hug bubbled up inside of her and she shoved it down. “I really appreciate this, thank you.”

“Thank Caroline, not me,” he corrected, serving her a perfect looking piping hot cinnamon roll with frosting melting all over the top. “It was her idea.”

Sitting down at one of the barstools, she sent a quick text to Caroline, not sure if she would be awake yet to call with the time difference, before digging in.

**FELICITY: Thank you for sharing your cinnamon roll recipe with Oliver!!**

She took her first bite and stifled a moan that would have just been awkward. They were an exact replica of Caroline’s and she immediately felt some of the homesickness that she had been feeling at her mom not being around to gush over her outfit and fix her hair into a fancy style that she never bothered to attempt on her own, Caroline not packing her a special first day lunch that her dad always slipped a note into, and a million other things that wouldn’t be the same for this first day of school, fade away.

“And the verdict is?” Oliver asked tentatively as he plated one for himself.

“Amazing.” She licked cinnamon sugar off of her fingers, “Seriously, thank you so much for making them for me.”

“You’re welcome.” He leaned against the counter and started to eat his own cinnamon roll. “So what classes do you have today?”

“Don’t you know? Haven’t you checked your calendar?” she admonished.

He rolled his eyes, “Of course I have. I’m just trying to make conversation.”

_That doesn’t revolve around anything too personal that could lead into territory I’d rather avoid_ , was the unspoken addendum she suspected.

“Right.” She pulled apart another cinnamon-sugary layer of dough. “So this morning I have “Algorithms and Data Structures” and “Introduction to Electrical Circuits,” which I was not able to get out of even though I’ve been building computers since I was in elementary school, but I’m already asking the administration to bend a lot of rules for me, so if I need to take the class to make them happy, I’ll take the class. Then this afternoon I have “Calculus and Analytical Geometry 3,” thankfully they did accept my AP scores for my math classes so I get to skip past the easy stuff. After that—” He was shaking his head and she stopped, “What?”

“I almost forgot for a second how brilliant you are, thanks for the reminder,” he remarked fondly and she blushed.

“I’ve learned a lot just by working with my Dad over the years. He always challenged me to never be satisfied with what I already knew, but to learn as much about everything I could. Honestly, I can run the company without a college education, but I’d love to eventually be able to be called _Dr. Felicity Smoak_ , so I guess I’ll put up with a little more school for that title.”

“Will I still be allowed to call you Felicity when you’re a doctor, or will we be back to more formal titles?” he asked.

“Hmmm,” she tapped her chin. “You might still get to be on first name basis, especially if you keep up the breakfast making.”

He took her empty plate with a smile and added it to the pile of dishes in the sink before turning back to her. “You’ve got stuff on your face now,” he pointed out.

“What?”

He started to reach out a hand towards her face and then must have thought better of it because he dropped his arm and just repeated, “You have frosting on your chin.”

“Oh,” she wiped her chin with the back of her hand. “Better?” He nodded in acknowledgment and she returned to their original conversation.  “So then after Calc, I just have Modern Cryptology and I’m done for the day,” she concluded. “I don’t have classes on Wednesday, but I already know I’m going to be spending the whole day doing homework. It’s the same schedule as today on Thursday, and then we’ll fly back into the city for the weekend.”

Oliver nodded, “And then we do it all again the next week.”

She sighed, “Yep.”

While Oliver started washing dishes, she headed back to her room to get dressed and ready for the day. She had picked out two potential outfits the night before and sent pictures to her mom and Sara, and when she read their texts that morning she discovered that they had both favored different ones, meaning she was the tiebreaker and in the same indecisive position she had been in before she had asked their opinions.

“I guess it’s a good thing you made a new friend,” she muttered to herself, forwarding the pictures to Iris and heading into the bathroom to shower.

Their apartment in Massachusetts was very quaint compared to the townhouse or her home in Starling, but it was still a million times nicer than living in a dorm room, and to herself she could admit that it was easy to pretend that her and Oliver were living there together under different circumstances.

Not so… platonic circumstances.

When she got out of the shower, Iris had responded to her text, accompanied with a picture of her outfit for the day and she replied with a few approving emojis before blow drying her hair, curling it, and doing her makeup.

Iris had sided with her mom, so she took the pale pink blouse off of its hanger and slipped it on with her skinny black jeans. Digging around in the boxes in her closet, she found her tan Lucky Brand booties to complete the outfit.

{[See Felicity's outfit here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/846074495446274049)}

She had tried to go for a look that was a little more relaxed than her, _I’m a fortune 500 company executive_ style _,_ like she had often sported in high school when she went right from school to the office. Once she had double-checked her appearance in the mirror and fixed her lipstick that had smudged when she realized she was biting her lip nervously, she headed back out into the living room where Oliver was waiting for her, changed into his suit.

“What were you planning on doing for your morning workouts here?” she asked as they walked out to the car. “Do you want to look for a gym nearby?”

He shrugged, “Since we’re only here for three mornings out of the week, I think I’ll probably just run and save the gym workouts for when we’re in New York. You’re welcome to join me.”

“Mmm,” she hummed apprehensively. “Don’t get me wrong, I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed going to the gym last week, and I’m not backing out on being your gym buddy, but running might be where I draw the line.”

He chuckled, “Okay. Some extra sleep in the morning while we’re here will probably do you more good than running anyway.”

In the car on the way over to campus, her phone buzzed with a reply from her earlier text to Caroline.

**CAROLINE: You’re welcome! I thought it was so sweet he asked for a way to give you a piece of home while you’re away ;) And that boy knows his way around a kitchen! Have a good first day dear, we all miss you!**

So it was his idea after all.

Biting back a smile, she glanced up at Oliver who was focused on the road ahead of him. With adjusting to her new normal, she was lucky to have him in her life, something she never would have believed she would ever think back when he started in April.

Even though they had glossed over what had happened between them the night of the Palmer Tech party, it was hard to forget it when he did stuff like this for her that just made her affections for him grow.

**IRIS: oh and I forgot to tell you, Barry sounded pretty excited to see you next weekend ;) ;) ;)**

Which was why seeing Barry again was exactly what she needed to hopefully steer her affections in a more realistic direction. Swiping over to her Facebook app, she looked him up and peered at the profile picture that popped up. He still had the same boyishly handsome features he had two years ago, but he had definitely grown up a little bit and she found herself feeling some flutters of excitement at the prospect of seeing him too.

**FELICITY: *blushing emoji* let me make reservations??**

**IRIS: ok but please remember Barry and I are poor college students lol**

**FELICITY: it’ll be my treat! what do you guys like?**

**IRIS: Barry is a human garbage can ever since he started running track and will eat anything. I’m not picky either. And thank you!! *blows kiss emoji***

**FELICITY: okay I will surprise you then ;) see you this weekend!**

She sent a quick text to her Uncle asking for restaurant recommendations and then slipped her phone into her tote as Oliver pulled onto campus. Leaning forward to talk to him, she asked if they could swing by the Great Dome for her to get her picture taken in front of it since they were early.

“Oh have my duties expanded to also be your personal photographer now?” he teased.

“Do you really want to deny my mother her annual first day of school photo?”

In a hallway in their home in Starling, there were pictures lined up from every one of her first days of school, beginning with her first day of Kindergarten in Las Vegas to her Senior year of high school. Sometimes she cringed when she walked past and was confronted with pictures from her rather awkward looking phase, but she loved the ones that included a special appearance from Sara because it was fun to see how they had grown up together.

Blinking back a few tears at the reminder that for the first time in a very long time, she wouldn’t be starting the new school year off with her best friend at her side, she watched as Oliver plugged her request into the GPS on his phone and made a turn.

“That’s what I thought,” she remarked, patting his arm and leaning back against her seat again.

Out on the lawn in front of the grand building she had seen on her admissions brochure that bore the domed roof and inscription of “Massachusetts Institute of Technology” etched into the stone, she handed Oliver her phone and posed for a picture with an excited smile. As much as she complained about school sometimes, she was ready for this new chapter in her life to officially take off and she hadn’t been able to imagine herself attending anywhere else since she had first started looking at colleges during Freshman year of high school.

“I took a couple just in case,” Oliver commented when she ambled back over to him and retrieved her phone. “You—“ he cleared his throat. “I think you look good in all of them though.”

“Thank you,” she smiled up at him shyly before looking down at her phone to scroll through the pictures to select one to send to her parents. Then she opened her Instagram app to post one to her account.

“25,000 followers,” Oliver remarked from over her shoulder. “Impressive.”

“Oh that’s not really that much, I mean I’m no Kardashian. Not that I want to be like a Kardashian,” she added hastily. “I don’t need that many people keeping up with my life, that’s for sure. Honestly though, as much as I detest the media attention sometimes, I’m starting to think that if I can inspire girls who start to follow my life because they like to see what I’m wearing or where I went to dinner that night, to be ambitious and confident in their intelligence, then maybe it’s not so bad. Because there are days where I wish I had someone like that to look up to.”

“Well I know for sure that you have been successful in that regard with at least one girl,” he pointed out.  

“Hmm?” she inquired as they walked over to the building that held her first class for the day.

“Thea. I mean, you saw how excited she was to meet you, and when we first talked about this job offer, she told me that you make her want to be, an “ultra fab business woman like you when she grows up” if I’m remembering correctly,” he recalled in amusement. “Today when she called she told me that she joined a professional development club at school this year that participates in competitions where they have to put together marketing proposals and business plans and stuff. It’s a relief to know that she’s found something positive to throw herself into, because things were rough for a few years after we lost our parents so it’s been a long time since I heard her so excited about something.”

“That’s awesome for her! And see, that’s what I hope I’m doing. In some small way, inspiring people to chase after what they want to accomplish. Because yeah, I got lucky and have some privileges just because of my family, but I work hard too. And that pays off, no matter what your last name is. Keep me posted on Thea, I want to hear how she does at her first competition. And oh! I can totally gift her with a new outfit to wear for it… Do you think she would let me do that?”

Oliver chuckled, “Yes, I don’t think you would have to beg her too hard to get permission to buy her clothes.”  

Continuing their walk across campus, Oliver fell silent and she could tell that he was taking in everything, the buildings, the people they passed; he was officially in bodyguard mode now.

They arrived at the building where her first class was located and she squared her shoulders, whispering to herself, “Okay Felicity, let’s do this.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is up a little later than usual, I fell into a spiral of watching One Tree Hill for the first time this weekend and got distracted from finishing this up, whoops... Anyway, here it is now, so I'll let you get into reading it without too much rambling :)

Their days in Massachusetts flew by quickly and before he knew it he was on the helicopter ride back into the city on Thursday evening with her fast asleep beside him, her head tilted to rest on his shoulder as she snored softly. From what he could tell she had enjoyed her classes that week, but she hadn’t been as chatty as usual as she sat at the kitchen table in their apartment for hours straight when she wasn’t in class, attempting to accomplish all of her studying and assignments before she had to shift into work mode upon their arrival in New York. It was no surprise that she had fallen asleep as soon as they were in the air.

When they landed on the roof of Smoak & Kuttler, he nudged her gently to wake her, “Felicity, we’re here.”

“Wha—“ She blinked her eyes sleepily and when she became aware of her position, quickly sat up straight. “Sorry about that. I didn’t drool on you or anything embarrassing like that, did I?”

He shook his head, “No. You’re good. And thanks to Thea, my shoulder is used to being a pillow.”

Memories of family vacations from when he was younger flashed through his head; long car trips where Thea would inevitably fall asleep and his arm would practically go numb from her resting her head on his shoulder. He just couldn’t bring himself to ever get too annoyed though, especially when his mom would catch his eye in the rearview mirror and give him a little appreciative smile.

“Are you feeling better after your nap?” he asked. There were dark circles showing under her fading makeup but she seemed a little less drained than when he had driven her to the airport in Massachusetts after her last class.

“Yeah. Let’s just… try to avoid people with cameras on the way home.” Pressing the heel of her palms into her eyes, she drawled sarcastically, “You know my sleep habits are my favorite thing to have discussed by the media.”

The pilot’s voice came over their headsets giving them the all-clear to disembark, so he took off his headset and opened the door for them. After he stepped out of the helicopter, he gave her a hand to help her down onto the landing pad.

“We’ll slip out of here quietly and go through the back entrance to the townhouse just to be safe, but I don’t think anyone has figured out your travel schedule yet,” he assured her as they walked toward the building entrance.   

“You’re right.” She fell quiet and he followed her gaze down to where their hands were still linked, their arms swinging between them.

Unable to help himself, he gently brushed his thumb over her knuckles a few times before dropping her hand and stuffing his into his pocket. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her glance up at him before quickly looking away.

Fortunately, soon after they stepped inside the building, they encountered Eliza and Charlotte who were walking down the hallway together, and the tension between them dissipated in the presence of the two assistants.

“Hey Felicity!” the two greeted her in sync before nodding at him.

Felicity gave a little wave accompanied by a tired, “Hey.”

“How was Massachusetts?” Charlotte asked, falling into step with them after Eliza dismissed herself to go let Daniel know they had arrived.

“Busy,” Felicity answered simply and he could tell that she wasn’t thinking about anything but putting on her pajamas and crashing.

“Things were busy here too.” Charlotte held up her tablet. “I made you a detailed schedule of all of your appointments and responsibilities for the next few days—“ He caught her eye over Felicity’s head and gave her a look. “—And we can totally go over it tomorrow after you have a relaxing evening and good night’s sleep. Is there anything I can do for you now?”

Felicity shook her head, “No, no. You go have a nice evening too. Thank you for getting things organized while I was gone, we’ll definitely debrief in the morning.”

Charlotte nodded and scurried away just as Felicity’s Uncle appeared in the hallway.

“There you are, Eliza said you had landed,” he walked forward towards them and tucked Felicity in for a hug. “You must be tired.”

He saw Felicity nod her head against his chest and mumble what sounded like “so tired.”

“I have a few things to finish here before I head home for the night, but don’t feel like you need to wait up for me. There’s leftovers from dinner last night in the fridge, and we can catch up on how your classes went over lunch tomorrow.”

He released her from the hug and she replied, “Sounds good, see you later.”

Traffic was a little busy getting back to the townhouse, but once they arrived they slipped in the back door quietly and made their way to the kitchen to grab some food to take upstairs.

“I can’t believe it’s only 6:30,” she bemoaned as she trudged up the staircase. “It feels like the middle of the night.”

“Well you did only sleep a total of about ten hours the entire time we were in Massachusetts,” he pointed out before yawning himself. There was a good security system set up in the apartment, but he would never go to bed while she was still awake, and even then, he had tossed and turned and moved back and forth from his bedroom to the living room. Lately his sleep had been even more fitful than normal. Even good dreams were nightmares because they either made him homesick or were full of things he shouldn’t have running through his mind, and the bad ones always revolved around the millions of ways he could fail at his job and jeopardize Felicity’s safety.

“Sorry,” she remarked apologetically. “I know it’s not a healthy habit to keep up, you don’t have to lecture me. Hopefully we’ll get more sleep next week now that I’ve got a handle on how my classes are going to be.”

“I wasn’t going to lecture you; I just don’t want you to burn yourself out or it’s going to be a long school year.”

She sighed, “I know.” Her face brightened a bit, “Thankfully I have my dinner with Iris and Barry tomorrow night, so that will force me to take a break from working for a few hours at least.”

_Yay._

* * *

“So then—“ _Punch. Punch._ “He told me—“ _Punch. Punch._ “He’d love to see me—“ _Punch. Punch._ “At one of his games.”

She dropped her fists and took a deep breath. Oliver had asked her if she wanted to forego the gym session that morning, but she had passed out around 7:30 the night before so she was wide awake when she heard him walking around the townhouse getting ready to go and decided she might as well tag along. Besides, she had missed this part of their routine during the mornings they were in Massachusetts.

“I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’m not actually around very much when the games are happening, and, even if I was, I don’t really want to go watch lacrosse. So I kind of just…. Beat around the bush.” She wiped sweat from her forehead, “But I probably should’ve just ripped the band-aid off because now I might end up with a stalker.”

Nodding at Oliver to indicate she was ready to continue, she waited for him to raise the pads affixed to his hands again before aiming punches at them to release some of her irritation.

“Why—“ _Punch. Punch._ “Do guys get—“ _Punch. Punch._ “The impression—“ _Punch. Punch._ “That if you’re nice—“ _Punch. Punch._ “To them—“ _Punch. Punch._ “It means you want them to never leave you alone again.”

Since she had spent most of the time since she got out of her last class yesterday afternoon sleeping, she was finally getting the chance to explain to Oliver the reason why there had been a guy following her around campus… that wasn’t hired to do so. It had started when she sat next to him on a bench in between classes on the first day and decided to make small talk by asking him what he was studying, which somehow led to him asking her to come see him play lacrosse. Since apparently she hadn’t made her disinterest clear enough, that had then turned into him “accidentally” running into her multiple times on Thursday. She had dialed down the friendliness with each encounter and was trying to give off _seriously uninterested_ vibes, but he wasn’t really getting the hint. Oliver had gotten good at being inconspicuous, so lacrosse guy might not have even noticed him tailing her, but if his intimidating presence couldn’t keep weirdos away, what was the point?

“If he keeps bothering you, I’ll take care of it,” Oliver replied in a voice that was a little growly before raising his eyebrows in amusement. “Although if you keep this up,” he gestured to her hands, “You should have no trouble getting him to back off yourself.”

She rolled her eyes, “Yes, I’m sure punching a guy in the face in the middle of campus would go over well. My parents would be so proud.” Tilting her head contemplatively, she added, “On a non-sarcastic note, Sara would probably be genuinely proud of me.”

He gave her a rare grin and raised the pads for her to continue her assault until her arms were burning from her efforts and she was ready to call it a day.

“I’m just going to go on the elliptical or something for a bit while you do your thing,” she informed him, waving a hand in the general direction of the cardio machines.

Deciding on one of the stationary bikes instead, she started pedaling away while she watched Oliver go through a circuit of exercises. At one point he caught her staring and she quickly tore her eyes away, but not before seeing the little smirk that appeared on his face.

Okay, _Mr._ I couldn’t control myself from getting handsy, I wouldn’t act so smug.

When her phone buzzed with a text from Iris, she was relieved for a place to put her gaze and read the message that popped onto the screen.  

**IRIS: So excited for tonight!! B and I are just going to meet you at the restaurant ok?**

**FELICITY: Ok! I’ll text you the address :)**

At her uncle’s recommendation, they were going to a Thai restaurant in Queens that was apparently the best he had ever had.

_“I’ve eaten at places that charge three times as much for a plate of food that isn’t as good as Ayada.”_

A quick Yelp search had confirmed that her Uncle wasn’t the only one who held that opinion and she called to make the reservation. It seemed nice without being formal and she figured that would be better than going somewhere really fancy where, on top of being nervous about seeing her high school crush, she would have to remember which fork she was supposed to use with which course.  

When she got to the offices after the gym, any time that she had to be nervous about the evening flew out the window at the hands of Charlotte and her color-coded schedule.

“This is really helpful to be able to see everything laid out like this Charlotte, thank you for putting this together.” She took a sip of her latte and sighed, “It’s going to be a busy few days.”

“Please just let me know if there’s anything, _anything_ , I can do for you,” Charlotte emphasized as they looked at the big screen behind her desk where it was being displayed.

She nodded, “I will.”

“Okay, so I’m going to go fix some coffee for your first meeting this morning with the representative from Stagg Industries, and then I’ll be right back to take notes. There’s a file on that drive on your desk that was sent over during the week with some details about what they want to discuss. According to Eliza, this guy is a little difficult to deal with sometimes, but he has a soft spot for his daughters, twin girls. So, if you need to get him to warm up to you, there’s a conversation starter,” Charlotte winked at her before walking out of her office and Felicity slumped into her desk chair.

“Here we go,” she muttered, straightening her shoulders and slipping the drive into her computer.

* * *

“Oh honey this is so exciting,” her mom gushed. “Wait, where’d you go. Why can’t I see you anymore?”

She peeked her head back into the frame of the camera on her tablet that was propped up on her bathroom counter, “I was just grabbing my curling iron.”

After finishing up at work, she had hurried home to start getting ready for dinner that night and was facetiming her mom so she could feel included even with her not actually being there, something she had lamented about when she had first told her about the _not a date, but sort of a date, but also not, or whatever it was_ she was going on _._

“So remind me again who this boy is?”

“Barry Allen, I met him at Science Bowl Regionals a few years back and there was something there, but then I never saw him again so….” She shrugged and started wrapping a lock of her hair around the barrel of her curling iron. “But coincidentally, he’s friends with Iris, the girl I was telling you about who I started hanging out with, and he’s going to be in the city for the weekend to visit her. It was Iris’ idea for the three of us to go out together tonight.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Why should I be nervous? I just spent the day working with fortune 500 executives; I can handle a cute boy.”

At least that’s what she was telling herself. Her stomach on the other hand, was currently turning somersaults. She wasn’t really sure what to expect. It had been a few years since she had seen Barry, and it’s not like they had even been a thing, but she liked to think that one moment could turn into something more.

_Ok girl, wait a second. Are you still thinking about Barry here? Or a certain someone else you shared a moment with?_

She shook that thought away. Things had returned to a tentative, albeit slightly more awkward, normal again with her and Oliver, and there was no point in dwelling on something that they had mutually agreed to just forget about.

“Well, have I ever told you about my first date with your father—“

“At least a million times,” she muttered.

Honestly, how her Uncle had looked at his friend, the Mensa member who often dressed like Steve Jobs, and thought, _you know who would be the perfect girl for him? My big sister, whose favorite color is glitter—_ Was one of the great mysteries of the universe. But one blind date had turned into almost 20 years now, minus the few spent apart when she was little, so she supposed her uncle had a knack for seeing things other people couldn’t. It made him a good businessman, _and_ matchmaker.

“You’re right, you’re right.” Her mom waved her hand around dismissively. “I’ve definitely told you about it before. So…” she grinned excitedly. “What are you wearing?”

“One second.” Setting her curling iron down, she went to grab the dress she had picked out to show her. It was black and flowy with a floral print and a subtle cut out around the waist. “I was thinking this, with my tan ankle booties.”

{[See Felicity's Dress Here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/847099534853521409)}

“Perfect,” her mom nodded in approval. “I love that dress on you. Although you might want to consider something a little tighter and maybe a push-up bra if you’re thinking you want the night to end with a little—“ She blew a kiss at the screen and winked.  

“Mom,” she groaned. “Nothing like that will be happening.” Even if there was a spark there between her and Barry, the thought of bringing someone back to the townhouse, to the floor that she shared with Oliver, to what? Make out on the couch while Oliver was in his room a few feet away? It just sounded so wrong. When she envisioned this date taking her mind off of Oliver, she had conveniently forgotten the tiny detail of him being there the entire time, of him being the one who would drive her home afterwards.

_This wouldn’t be a problem if he was just your bodyguard and you hadn’t gone and complicated things with those messy little things called feelings._

“This is just a dinner amongst three friends,” she clarified. “One of whom I just happened to kiss in _tenth grade_.”

“But if he asked you out on an official date after tonight, would you say yes?”

She uncapped her lipstick and tilted her head contemplatively, “Yeah. I think I would.”  

* * *

“Felicity!” Iris waved, walking into the restaurant with Barry trailing behind her and Felicity felt her stomach swoop as she approached them.

After greeting Iris with a hug, she found herself standing in front of Barry. He was still as gangly as she remembered from a few years back, probably not helped from running track like Iris had mentioned he was doing now, with the same haircut that he had run his fingers through furiously when he was trying to work out a problem in one of the rounds of competition, or standing in front of her trying to make conversation, but he didn’t seem as nervous now as he had then.

“Hey Felicity.”

“Hey Barry,” she returned shyly. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too.” He gave her a hug and over his shoulder she saw Oliver watching them, his eyes focusing on something on the wall beyond her when she caught him.

“I was so surprised when Iris called and said she had met you, and that you still remembered me.”

“I have a good memory.” She winked at him, “You should know that, since my trivia team totally crushed yours on opening night.”

He gave her a skeptical look, “Are you sure you have a good memory? Because that’s not how I remember things. I’m pretty sure you guys barely won by a tie-breaker at the end.”

She shrugged, “Well, I remember what happened on the last night of the competition pretty well at least.”

“Apparently,” Iris commented in amusement from where she was standing beside them and she blushed.

“You know, I really regret not getting your number that night,” Barry remarked as a hostess led them to their table. “Especially when you didn’t show up at Regionals the next year... didn’t think there was any chance of me seeing you again.”

“Yeah…. I started working a lot of hours with my Dad so I had to drop some things, and Science Bowl was one of them. I missed competing though.” She nudged him with her shoulder, “And the cute boys on the Central City team.”

“Boys? Plural?” Barry asked defensively.

Iris laughed and pointed out, “Hey, you’re the one she kissed.”

Barry grinned and pulled out chairs for both her and Iris, “True. So, Iris mentioned it to me, but remind me again what have you been up to in New York Felicity?”

“I’m attending MIT during the week, so I’ve started working at the NYC offices of the family business.”

“Oh right, Smoak & Kuttler?” She nodded and he continued, “We’re actually being trained to use some of your data processing software in my program at school.”

Iris reached for Barry’s arm, “I tried to convince him to come to New York with me for college, but he got into one of the best CSI programs on the west coast and, I guess I can’t blame him for not wanting to turn that down, even if it means having to be on opposite sides of the country.”

“I know what that’s like. Sara, my best friend from home,” she elaborated for Barry’s sake, “—and I talk on the phone as much as possible, but with the time difference and our crazy schedules, it’s hard to feel as close with someone as when they could just show up at your house.”

A waitress arrived that their table and disrupted the conversation to take their orders. When she left, Felicity turned to Iris, “Oh hey, you never told me how your date went the other night.”

“A date?” Barry interjected, a small frown on his face.

“Yeah,” Iris waved her hand dismissively. “It was just a casual thing, someone who comes into Jitters a lot.”  

“Oh. You didn’t tell me about that. Are you—Are you going to go out with him again?” Barry asked and a weird look passed across Iris’ face.

Felicity looked back and forth between the two of them, a little confused, and decided she should probably change the subject, “So Barry, crime scene investigation, what sparked your interest in that?”

* * *

Sitting at a table in between the door and the table where Felicity was sitting with Iris and Barry—

_Who looks about twelve._

_No, he’s just actually her age._

\--he perused the menu while keeping an eye on the trio and ignoring the pinpricks of jealousy he was feeling in his chest.

This shouldn’t be bothering him, he had no right to feel jealous, and yet he was brooding like she was choosing someone over him, when the reality was that he could never even be an option for her. And the more he let himself forget that, the harder it was going to be to compartmentalize his feelings and just focus on doing his job. Which was watching the door, not watching her laugh at something the Barry kid said.

Two hours later, the check had been paid and he saw Felicity start to have trouble keeping herself from yawning, so he had a feeling things were going to be wrapping up soon. Sure enough, it was only a few minutes before the three of them stood up and headed towards the door of the restaurant.

Outside, Barry pulled Felicity aside to talk to her alone and he was left standing with Iris.

“So…” Iris began as he averted his eyes from watching the two of them, standing close together with Barry holding her hands in his. “I don’t want to brag too much, but I think I was a successful matchmaker.”

He held back an eye roll that shouldn’t come from an unemotionally attached bodyguard.   

After what seemed like a small eternity, Felicity rolled up on her toes to kiss Barry on the cheek and then walked back over to him and Iris.

“Bring the car around please?” she asked, and he nodded, slipping the keys out of his pocket.

* * *

Oliver glanced back at her in the rearview mirror and noticed a contemplative looking frown on her face. As much as it had pained him to watch her at dinner with Barry and Iris, it looked now like maybe she hadn’t enjoyed it as much as it had appeared. Or there was something else bothering her entirely. Either way, her demeanor was very different than it had been in the restaurant.

Hesitantly, he spoke up, “Are you alright?”

“Hmmm?” she startled, meeting his eyes in the mirror. “Oh ummm, yeah. I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

He nodded and refocused back on navigating them to the townhouse, but a minute later she piped up again.

“It just didn’t really go the way I was expecting it. I guess I thought that seeing Barry again would be a good way to get my mind off of y—“ Maybe he was imagining it because it was what he wanted to hear, but it definitely sounded like she was about to say “you” before she caught herself and his hands tightened their grip on the steering wheel. “Barry wanted to go out again this weekend, just me and him, but what would even be the point? Now that I’ve actually thought it through, I don’t really see there being a chance for us to be something. Besides the fact that our lives are on opposite sides of the country, and I don’t think I could handle long distance like that, him and Iris seem like those best friends that are going to wake up one day and be like, _wow so, we’re super in love each other._ Iris thought she was setting me up with Barry, but it didn’t take me long to realize that the two of them… well there’s definitely something there that’s not just friendship and it’s amusing they can’t see it, or are just in total denial, I don’t know. So yeah.” She inhaled a deep breath when she paused and then sighed, “Sorry for dumping all that on you. The food was really good. Did you like what you ordered?”   

His mind was trying to catch up with everything she had just thrown at him that he completely missed her abrupt question, “Sorry, what?”

“Your meal, did you enjoy it?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. It was.”

He wasn’t really sure what else he was supposed to add to the conversation, if she wanted a reply to any other part of her ramble, and he was selfishly a little relieved when she just fell silent.

When they approached the townhouse, he noticed a little flock of reporters standing outside that became a flurry of activity when the car got closer.

_“Felicity!” “Felicity just a few questions please?” “How are you liking New York?” “What do you miss the most about the West Coast?”_

He raised an eyebrow in the rearview mirror and she shook her head, “Not tonight. Please.”

Obliging, he pulled into the side street that would take them to the back entrance.

* * *

Monday morning Felicity looked away from her computer screen when Charlotte knocked softly on the glass outside her office. The weekend had been spent working, mostly at the dining room table at the townhouse with her Uncle, and the disappointment that she had felt on Friday evening after dinner had faded. She had texted Barry a little and they agreed to stay in touch, but just as friends, and she felt good about that. Sure, they had a lot in common, and maybe they were perfectly perfect for each other in that sense, but she knew he felt something for Iris and she…

Her eyes lingered for a second on Oliver standing over by the windows looking out over the city before giving Caroline a little nod to come in.   

“Uhh Felicity?” She jerked her thumb at the reception area. “There’s someone here to see you.”

“I thought my first meeting wasn’t until 10?” She clicked over to the schedule on her computer that Charlotte had complied for her and saw that she was right.

“Yeah… she didn’t make an appointment.”

“Okay well, who is it?”

Charlotte looked down at her toes, “Umm, I don’t know.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion, “She didn’t tell you her name?”

“I think she expected me to know who she is… but I don’t. And she’s very adamant on seeing you.” Her assistant dropped her voice to a whisper, “And a little scary. In a very powerful woman sort of way. Please don’t make me send her away.”

Felicity huffed in amusement, “It’s fine. Send her in.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the cliffhanger last week, it was fun to read all of your guesses for the mystery guest though ;) Alas, none of you were right....

“Cat Grant,” Felicity remarked in surprise, standing up from her desk chair when her mystery guest strode into her office. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Oliver relax at the realization that the previously unidentified woman didn’t seem to pose a threat.

“Well thank God someone in this building knows who I am,” Cat huffed dramatically, handing off her purse to the young woman who had followed her in who appeared to be an assistant, and bore a striking similarity to herself, with her floral print dress, blazer, curled ponytail, and glasses that were a little askew at the moment.

Behind Cat, Felicity caught Charlotte surveying the scene with a flustered look on her face as she clutched her tablet.

“Of course I know who you are Ms. Grant.” Besides the fact that she was the one-woman force to be reckoned with behind CatCo, and an inspiration to any woman who wanted to make her mark in the business world, she had also seen her briefly across the room at a holiday party in National City that she went to with her Uncle when she was in ninth grade. She gestured for her to have a seat on one of the couches before sitting down on the one facing it. “This is a long way from National City though. What brings you here today?” 

“I was checking on things at the New York offices and figured I should include in the trip a visit to the woman who I hope will be gracing the cover of next month’s magazine.”

“Okay,” she nodded, still confused as to why Cat was currently sitting in her office. It was unusual for someone to come directly to her if they were interested in working in some capacity with Smoak & Kuttler, and her Uncle wasn’t back yet from visiting a client, so she wasn’t entirely sure what sort of procedure she should follow. “And is there something I can help you with?”

“You can say yes,” she replied matter-of-factly as she retrieved a file from her assistant.  

Felicity blinked, “Say yes to what?”

Cat sighed in exasperation, “To being on the cover of CatCo Magazine next month, to accompany a special feature on you of course.” 

“Oh.” Her eyes widened and she pointed to herself, “Me?”

“Unless there’s another Felicity Smoak around here somewhere,” Cat waved her hand around. “Then, yes. You.” Cat’s assistant gave her an encouraging smile as Cat continued, flipping through the file she had brought, “You’ve been generating some buzz, mostly in Starling, but also here in New York as well, which is impressive. So, I want to properly debut you before one of my competitors can snatch you up.”

Her brow crinkled and she smoothed out imaginary wrinkles in her skirt, “Forgive me. I’m not entirely sure I understand.”

“Miss Smoak, you possess a lot of power and I intend to help you wield it. What I see in you is the…” She tapped her manicured fingers on the armrest of the couch, “—the Ginny Baker of the tech-slash-business world so to speak. A younger version of myself in many ways. Someone who girls who dream of a corner office or are sitting in their bedroom right now learning how to code can have to say, ‘I want to be just like her when I grow up’ about. To be _her_ , you just need the right platform, and CatCo can give it to you, if you’re willing.”

A part of her was nervous about opening herself up to a greater spotlight. More than once had she wished for a more normal life so that people wouldn’t care to take pictures of her when she went out to dinner or speculate why she had been looking so tired lately, but at the same time, she knew she wanted to be able to inspire people…

A small smile turned up the corners of her mouth and she glanced over at Oliver, who returned her smile and gave her an encouraging nod. It was almost as if Cat Grant had overheard their conversation the other day as they walked across the campus in Massachusetts.

“I would love that Ms. Grant.”

“Excellent.” She folded her hands together and gave her an approving smile, “I will have Kiera coordinate with your assistant when you’re available for an interview with me for your feature, as well as a photo shoot with one of the photographers from the New York offices. While I can conduct the interview over the phone, I prefer to talk in person. I’m only in town for two more days though, so I’d like to fit it in as soon as possible. Today even, if you’re free.”

She bit her lip. Today was jam packed with meetings and tonight she was supposed to be flying up to Massachusetts. By the time she got back on Thursday night after her classes, Ms. Grant would be gone. When she looked over at Charlotte, she saw that she was also nibbling on her lip as she tapped on her tablet furiously.

Sensing her gaze, Charlotte glanced up at her and mouthed, “I think we can make it work.”

“That’s no problem,” she replied to Cat. “Charlotte will coordinate things with Kiera—“

“It’s Kara,” she heard the assistant mutter under her breath and she paused for a moment in confusion before continuing.

“—And they’ll get everything set up. I look forward to talking with you.”

“And I with you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have another appointment to attend to this morning. Kiera will notify me when the time for the interview is arranged.”

As she stood up to leave, Felicity’s uncle appeared in the doorway of the office, leaning on the doorframe. “I heard a rumor that you were in the city Cat.”

“Daniel,” Cat greeted him warmly. “Long time no see. Walk me to my car?”

The two of them departed the office together and Felicity turned to Charlotte who face-palmed, “So I totally know who Cat Grant is, but seeing her standing in front of me was kind of unexpected and I blanked.”

She chuckled as she walked back over to her desk, “It’s okay.”

“Anyway, I think we can open up a time slot for you to sit down with her this evening if we shift your meeting with the marketing department regarding the promotion for the new operating system to sometime after you get back from Massachusetts. It’s not super time sensitive because the launch isn’t for another two months, and it’s an internal matter so it’ll be easier to reschedule,” Charlotte reported.

Cyber security was the bread and butter of Smoak & Kuttler, but they had also dipped their toes into software and application development as the business grew. The new advanced OS was something her and her father had been collaborating on for a few months now with the needs of many of the labs and companies they worked with in mind and it was almost ready for a soft release to the IT departments at Smoak & Kuttler clients, before being promoted to a broader market.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I had a few suggestions for changes that I marked on the mock-ups they had sent up,” Charlotte added hesitantly.

She smiled, “That’s not a problem at all, I value your input.” Glancing back at her schedule that was displayed on one of the big screens behind her desk, she drummed her fingers on her desk. “I guess I should prepare for my ten o’clock, while you and Kiera coordinate things with Cat for the interview.”

“It’s Kara,” Cat’s assistant piped up, straightening her glasses. “My name is Kara, Kara Danvers. I’m not sure if Ms. Grant has forgotten that that is my actual name or she just refuses to call me by it to keep me on my toes.”

Charlotte pointed at her, “Don’t get any ideas.”

Looking up from her tablet, she teased, “What was that _Carly_?”

Charlotte shot her a glare that dissolved into a smile before ushering Kara out to her desk and leaving her to go over the notes she had compiled regarding her meeting that morning.  

The day went by quickly and before she knew it, it was 6:00pm and Cat was back in her office, sitting across from her on the couch again.

“So,” Cat began, setting her phone on the table between them with the audio recorder on. “Let’s start with something easy. What does a day in the life of Felicity Smoak look like?”

“What day of the week are we talking?” she asked in amusement. “If I’m in Massachusetts it’s entirely different from a day in New York.”

“Let’s start with a day in New York.” Cat gestured around the office, “What’s a day like when you’re in your eighteen-year-old, fortune 500 executive heels?”

“Well, it starts very early. My alarm goes off at around 4:30, 5:00 if I can convince Oliver we should sleep in a little bit longer.” She pressed a palm to her face and muttered, “Ugh… that makes it sound like we’re sleeping together.”

“Oliver?” Cat inquired, lifting an eyebrow.

She pointed to where Oliver was standing outside the glass doors that led into her office and Cat turned her head to look.

“My bodyguard. And we’re not sleeping together,” she clarified hastily. “He’s just a morning person and likes to get an early start to the gym when it’s not too crowded, so it’s easier to look out for me while he works out too. I never really liked going to the gym before, but once I started tagging along, I’ve found that it helps me clear my head in the morning and feel energized for the day. Anyway, after that, I get dressed and ready for work before stopping at Jitters on the way to the office. My friend is a barista there and she always has my drink ready for me as soon as I step in the door. She’s actually an intern at CatCo too, maybe you’ve met her. Iris West?”

Cat narrowed her eyes contemplatively, “I met a lot of interns yesterday, but the name sounds vaguely familiar.”

“Well, in my unprofessional opinion, she’s a fantastic journalist. I would keep an eye out for her. But, back to my day… The first thing I do every morning when I get here is check the schedule for the day that my assistant lays out for me, and then I get to work….”

After Cat had asked a myriad of questions, ranging from what the most challenging aspect of her work was (getting taken seriously by old dudes that seriously could not grasp that she was way more than competent at handling their companies’ precious databases), to what the most important piece of advice she had ever been given was ( _No one can make you feel inferior without consent_ -her mom, quoting Joe from the Princess Diaries, quoting Eleanor Roosevelt), she thanked her for her time and departed. Alone in her office now, she sunk into the couch cushions before checking the time and realizing she only had a little over an hour until they were taking off for Massachusetts and she was ravenous.

Peeking her head out into the reception area where Oliver was, she asked, “Hey, are you hungry? I was thinking of calling in some take-out before we’re due on the helicopter.”

He nodded, “I could eat.”

“Okay. Charlotte, you want me to order you anything?”

Her assistant looked up from her computer, “Umm actually I was hoping I could head out for the night. I have a… thing.”

“Oh, yeah. Of course. We’re just going to be hanging out until the pilot gets here. Thanks for your help today, have a nice evening.”

Charlotte gave her an appreciative smile before gathering up her stuff and leaving.

Slipping off her heels, she grabbed the basket of take-out menus Eliza had compiled for her when she first started, and padded over to the couch to sift through them. “So what are you hungry for?”

“I’m fine with whatever you want,” Oliver replied, taking off his jacket and settling down on the couch across from her.

At the sight of him reclining there, unbuttoning his shirt sleeves and rolling them up, she was instantly taken back to the nights they had spent in her office back in Starling when almost everyone had gone home but the two of them and he kept her company while she was finishing up work. Those late nights had been when Oliver’s presence had started to seem less awful, and before she knew it, the feelings had come creeping in.

Feelings she was doing her best to keep a lid on now, so that they could have nights in her office like this. Hanging out as friends. The last thing she wanted was for him to leave, or to become his closed off, robotic self like he was when he first started for the sake of maintaining professional relations between them. Even if she still thought it was a little paranoid on the part of her parents to think she actually needed a bodyguard—

_Honestly, what was going to happen to her?_

\--having him around helped keep her sane when her life felt like a whirlwind. She couldn’t even imagine how lonely she would feel if she had to do all her traveling back and forth by herself, or if she had the whole big floor of the townhouse just to herself.

“Pizza,” she decided, pulling a menu out of the stack. “Oh wait, maybe we should pick something that won’t result in a heated debate,” she waggled her eyebrows at him and he shook his head in amusement.

“Order your nasty pineapple pizza if that’s what you want.”

She grinned, pulling out her phone to dial the pizzeria, and thirty minutes later they were digging into a pizza, half pineapple and half mushroom and olives.

“So how’d the interview go?” Oliver asked, removing a piece of stray pineapple that had made it onto one of his slices with a look of disgust on his face.

“Good, I think. It was nice to answer questions that weren’t just the surface level stuff that I get asked on the street.” She wiped some sauce off the corner of her mouth with her napkin. “I mean, how crazy is it that we were literally just talking about all this last week and then Cat shows up today? In all honesty though, there was a little part of me that didn’t want to say yes.”

“Why’s that?”

“I guess I’m afraid of putting even more of a magnifying glass on myself than I already have now. What if I do something stupid and now suddenly thousands of people feel the need to weigh in on it because I’m supposed to be some sort of role model? What if I go full Miley Cyrus and moms post rants on Facebook about how I corrupted their daughters?”

Oliver looked at her like he wasn’t sure if she wanted him to respond, “Uhh—“

“You’re right,” she waved a hand dismissively before gesturing to the screen on the wall still displaying her schedule. “I don’t even have time to do anything remotely scandalous.”

* * *

Saturday night when she was back in the city for the weekend, her office had made a dramatic transformation with the arrival of the CatCo photography team who was setting up lighting and such for the shoot for her issue. Currently, she was surveying the scene from where she was perched on a make-up chair with her hair in curlers as a make-up artist sorted through lipstick shades. 

“Hey friend-slash-supermodel.” Iris appeared in front of her with a Jitters to-go cup. “Your usual.”

“Thank you. I didn’t expect you to be here,” she remarked, accepting the coffee gratefully and sipping the warm, energizing liquid before it was going to inevitably be taken from her so her lipstick could be applied. “Aren’t you a journalism intern?”

“Yeah well that’s one of the pros of being an intern, sometimes you get to do glamourous stuff like fetch coffee for photoshoots when you’re not stuck doing dull, trivial tasks that will help prepare you for your future career goals,” Iris quipped, a grin spreading across her face. “But… I actually did request to help out tonight since it was you. Remember that when you’re submitting your guest list for the release party,” she added with a wink.

Tilting her head in confusion, she inquired, “Guest list for the what party?”

“There’ll be a release party in National City for the issue and since you’re the cover girl, you’ll be the guest of honor. And you can invite anyone you want.” Iris batted her eyelashes, “Including a certain friend who would totally be down for a ride to the West Coast on your private jet.”

She frowned, “Oh.”

“I mean, you don’t have to invite me,” Iris added hastily, hurt evident in her voice even though she could tell she was trying to mask it. “I just thought—“

“No, no. Of course you’ll be invited. It’s just that, as much as I’ve gotten used to handling the press and having complete strangers interested in my life, I don’t really love big parties, especially ones where I’m the center of attention. My mom threw me some serious birthday extravaganzas growing up that I was never a fan of. Also, the last party I attended, I nearly died.” The make-up artist overheard and glanced over her way with wide eyes. “Which sounds dramatic, but really it was just an allergic reaction to some walnuts in a brownie that could have done me in if I didn’t have my epi-pen and bodyguard with me.

“Well, I volunteer to make sure that all baked goods are safe before you eat them,” Iris assured her with an amused smile.

She returned her smile, “Much appreciated.”  

“And, I’m pretty sure Cat Grant is the center of attention at any party she hosts, no matter whose face is plastered on the giant copy of the cover, so I wouldn’t worry about that too much,” Iris joked and she laughed.

Once her make-up was finished, the hair stylist returned to let her hair down from the curlers and her mom popped up on her phone requesting to FaceTime.

“Hey baby!” her mom greeted her when she accepted the call, curlers in her hair as well.

“Hi mom. What’s up?”

“I’m getting ready to go out to dinner with your father, but I was hoping to catch you before they started shooting.”

Her mom had let out a sound barrier breaking shriek of delight when she had told her about Cat Grant’s visit and proposal the other day. The gushing about how proud she was of her and how exciting all this was got followed up by thirty minutes of “modeling tips” that had made her realize she was going to be way over her head when they put her in front of the camera. As much as she had gotten better at being comfortable around photographers over the years, with the various opportunities her life had provided her, this was way more intense than a few photographers milling about an event she was attending, or smiling for a few shutter clicks outside the restaurant she had just emerged from, or posing for an Instagram picture. There were at least ten people in the room at the moment who would all be staring at her as she attempted to _“just look natural.”_ The fact that they had chosen her office as the location for the shoot had relaxed her a little, at least it was a familiar space, but she still hoped the photographer was a miracle worker.

“They’re just finishing up my hair and make-up before I get dressed in the first outfit for the cover photo,” she told her.

“Ooooh can I see?”

Felicity waved Iris over from where she was talking to one of the members of the CatCo team that was adjusting a light. “Can you grab the cover dress? I want to show my mom.”

Nodding, she retrieved from the garment rack the bright pink fit and flare dress that she had decided on from the options that the stylist had given her. It looked like something that could actually be found in her closet and she was secretly hoping that she would get to take it home at the end of the night.

{[Check out the dress here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/850864472067649538)}

“Mom, this is my friend Iris,” she introduced her, switching over to her front camera to put Iris and the dress in the frame.

“Hi sweetheart, it’s nice to finally put a face to a name.”

Iris raised an eyebrow, “You been talking about me Smoak?”

“All good things,” her and her mom chimed in unison, before her mom added, “I’m happy to hear that Felicity has already made a friend out there.”

“I’m happy to have her as a friend too.” Iris gave her a smile and then lifted the hanger up so that the whole dress was in view of the camera. “So this is what Felicity’s going to be wearing on the cover….”

The dress got the mom seal of approval and Felicity and Iris talked to her and Caroline, who her mom had called up from the kitchen, for a few more minutes before the photographer announced that he was ready for her. Iris followed her into the bathroom adjoining her office to help her get zipped in carefully without messing up her hair, but when she emerged, the hair and makeup team still swarmed her to do last minute touch ups before she was ushered over to her desk.

“Okay Felicity, we’re going to put you in a few different poses here. Let’s start with you sitting on top,” the photographer instructed, patting the surface of her desk that had been completely cleared off for the night.

Someone had brought in a crate for her to step onto to get up onto the desk and she ascended as gracefully as possible, smoothing out the skirt of her dress before letting the photographer position her the way she was envisioning.

The photographer stepped back and picked up her camera to start taking a few test shots, while she advised, “Don’t feel like you have to be stiff in the pose. Relax and just act natural.”

_Easier said than done lady._

The lights were too bright, there were too many people standing around watching her, the room suddenly felt too small. She could feel her palms start to sweat and she resisted the urge to wipe them on her dress.

_How do models do this on the regular?_

Blinking a few times, she looked over the photographer’s head and found Oliver standing behind the crowd, keeping a watchful eye on things. When he felt her gaze, he winked and gave her an encouraging smile. For a second she didn’t feel like she was in the middle of a photo shoot but it was just the two of them in her office, and she relaxed as she returned his smile. 

“Beautiful Felicity,” the photographer hummed approvingly and she was instantly returned to her present circumstances. “Oh no, don’t tense up on me. Just pretend I’m your best friend.”

Now that she said it, the photographer did actually look a little like Sara with her wavy blond hair and freckles and that realization made her seem less intimidating. Between that and Oliver and Iris standing behind her, she managed to shut everything else out and make it through the whole evening without looking like a deer in the headlights again. They moved her around her office, on top of the desk, behind and in front of the desk, by the windows with the night city-scape as a backdrop, and on her couch, changing her into two other outfits along the way.   

By the time everyone had packed up and left for the night, the photographer assuring her that she got some perfect shots, it was incredibly late and she felt the last bit of her energy leave her like a balloon deflating.

“Maybe I should just sleep here,” she muttered from where she was stretched out on one of her couches.

Oliver appeared above her. “You’ll be much happier if you wake up in your bed tomorrow.” He held out his hand, “C’mon.”

Taking hold of it, she let him help her up onto her feet. “You’re right. Take me home sir.”

* * *

Back at the townhouse, Felicity decided she needed a snack before bed so they wandered into the main kitchen and found her Uncle sitting at the counter with his laptop and a pint of ice cream.

“Hey superstar,” he greeted her and patted the barstool next to him for her to come sit.  

He hung back, unsure if he should just head upstairs or wait down here for her, but she tilted her head at the barstool at the end of the counter and he took a seat.

“How was your evening?” her Uncle asked, handing the ice cream to her so she could take a spoonful.

“A little crazy. I definitely did not miss my calling in life to be a model.” Her uncle chuckled and she continued, “I guess it was kind of fun though. I’m excited to see which pictures end up in the magazine.”  

Watching her during the shoot, he had been able to tell that she was feeling a little out of her comfort zone, but when she had found him in the cluster of people and given him that smile that made her eyes sparkle behind her glasses, she had looked so beautiful and sure of herself. He hoped the photographer had captured that exact moment.

It was those moments that made his chest tighten because, even though it had seemed as though she had been able to easily brush off what had happened between them the night of the Palmer Tech party, they made him think that maybe she really was feeling some of the same things for him as he for her. Which meant nothing, because it didn’t change their circumstances, and everything, because it made that fact so much harder to accept.   

Felicity yawned and Daniel observed that it was probably time for them both to turn in for the night, “Oh, but before I forget.” He slipped three tickets out of his pocket and laid them on the counter. “Since you moved out here, we have both been way too busy, we’ve barely spent any time together like I had been hoping.” He tapped the tickets, “These are a very late birthday present, but we’re going to see Hamilton tomorrow night.”

Felicity bounced in her seat quite enthusiastically for someone who was about to fall asleep in her office not that long ago, “Are you serious?”

Daniel nodded, “I have dinner reservations at a friend’s restaurant, and then we’ll go see the show.”

“Thank you so much! I have been wanting to see Hamilton for forever now.” She pulled out her phone, “What time are the dinner reservations? I know it’s Sunday but I was going to try and squeeze in a little work—“

Her uncle placed a hand over hers to stop her, “Tomorrow is your day off. You have been working very hard and I am so proud of you for the way you’ve been juggling everything, taking a day to relax is not going to kill you. Besides, one of the best things about being in charge is that you get to delegate. There are tons of people that work with you who would be thrilled to help you with something. Don’t be afraid to ask, okay?” She nodded but he could see the reluctance on her face. Daniel looked over at him, “Make sure she doesn’t touch her work tomorrow, okay? I have brunch with a few friends in the morning so I won’t be around to keep an eye on her.”  

“He’s my bodyguard, not my babysitter,” Felicity pointed out, grabbing another bite of her Uncle’s ice cream.

“I am also your friend though, and I agree with your Uncle. You need a day off.”

She scowled at him but it didn’t seem as venomous as he knew she was capable of, so he had a feeling she wasn’t going to put up much more of a fight.

“Fine,” she sighed, sliding off the barstool. “I guess we do need to finish our watch of the Harry Potter movies. See you tomorrow Uncle Daniel.”

Containing a triumphant smile, he followed her to the staircase and up to their floor to finally crash for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shameless plug, if you're not following me on twitter, you totally should ;) I post dialogue teases and sometimes I have polls to help contribute to certain details of the story :) @mogirl97


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I had this chapter ready a little early so I thought I would post it today instead of waiting until tomorrow :) Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments on the last chapter, I really appreciate your feedback/encouragement and I hope you enjoy this chapter....

The next Friday morning, Felicity walked into her office to discover a large bouquet of flowers on her desk.

“Charlotte?” She stepped closer to her desk. “Where did these come from?”

“A courier delivered them a few minutes ago. I think there’s a card,” her assistant reported, taking a seat at one of the couches for their morning briefing.

Inspecting the bright pink blooms, she found a crisp white square of paper and pulled it out to read.

_Congratulations on your CatCo cover!_

_-From your friends at Palmer Tech_

_PS: We look forward to you joining us at Citi Field this weekend!_

With all the craziness lately, she had almost forgotten that this was the weekend that the Starling Rockets were in town and she had planned to take Oliver to a game. Smiling, she set the card on her desk and sat down with Charlotte to go over her day.

“Who were they from?”

“Oh um, Palmer Tech. They were just congratulating me for my feature in CatCo.”

“Speaking of…” Charlotte swiped across her tablet. “The cover release party has been moved up to next weekend because of a conflict with the venue, so they need your guest list ASAP.”

She nodded, “Okay. I will make a few calls this morning and see who’s available to go. Also, you have tomorrow afternoon-slash-evening cleared for me to go to the baseball game, right?”

“Yep. Which means today is going to be a little busy.”

“Bring it on.”

After they finished up going over her appointments for the day and she had sorted through her emails, she checked the time to make sure it wouldn’t be too early on the west coast and pulled out her phone to call her mom.

“Hey baby, what’s up?”

“So the date for the cover release party for my CatCo issue has been changed to next Friday night—“

“What? No,” her mom interrupted her, disappointment in her voice.

“I know it’s a little last minute, but Mom we have multiple private jets.”

“No honey, next Friday is the annual benefit gala for the foundation,” her mom explained. Every year her mom hosted a gala to raise money for her foundation benefiting single moms in Starling. It was a huge event that weeks of planning went into, and of course the CatCo party had to end up falling on the same day. “You know I can’t miss that.”

“Oh yeah, obviously not.” She bit her lip, she had really been looking forward to seeing her. With how overwhelming her life had been as of late, she could use a mom hug. Luckily for her, she had more than one maternal figure in her life. “Do you think that maybe Caroline would come?”

Her mom gasped excitedly, “I think she would love that. I can lend her something to wear and everything…”

“Perfect. I will add her name to the guest list.”

“I’m really sorry I can’t come sweetheart, I miss you. How are you doing? You’re not working too hard are you?”

“I’m not working too hard,” she assured her, unsure if she was trying to convince her mom or herself.

Her mom had been vocal about not wanting her to work at the company while she was at MIT, she had wanted her to have a normal college experience, but she had backed down when she realized that she was determined to go through with taking the position at Smoak & Kuttler East and wouldn’t be talked out of it.

There had been a few times lately where she thought that maybe she should have listened to her mom, but she did love her job, and if she couldn’t handle a little stress and pressure, how could she run the entire company one day?

Still, she was trying to take her Uncle’s advice about delegating and letting people help her so that she could relax every once in awhile, like she had last Sunday…

* * *

“Okay, so if we time this right, and since we’ve already watched the first one, we should be able to make it through the Order of the Phoenix before we have to get ready for dinner.” She plopped down on the couch and reached for the remote before arranging her blanket around her.

“Have you calculated lunch and bathroom breaks in there?” he asked, handing her a bowl of Lucky Charms and settling in next to her with his own bowl of cereal.

She opened her Uncle’s Amazon Prime account and hit play on the Chamber of Secrets, “What kind of amateur do you think I am?”

“Okay, okay. Shouldn’t have doubted you.”

There had been so many times that day, while they were just hanging out, bantering about what the movies did right and wrong in regards to the books, sharing a big bowl of popcorn, and running around like crazy to get ready for dinner (okay, so maybe she had calculated _a little_ wrong), that she had almost been able to pretend that things were different. Pretend that if she had scooted over a little bit on the couch and rested on his chest, he would kiss the top of her head and rub her back while they watched snow fall over Hogwarts.

She wished now that she would have taken Sara’s advice and tried to have an honest chat after what happened the night of the PT party, because the more time they spent together, the more this whole ignoring her feelings thing just wasn’t working for her.

* * *

“What do you even wear to a baseball game?” she asked Sara, glancing over at her laptop sitting on the edge of her bed while she sifted through her closet. “I mean, I feel like I can’t go totally casual because we’re going to be in a box suite, but I don’t think I have to dress up that much either. It’s a baseball game, not the Kentucky Derby.”  

She hated not knowing what to wear in a situation. Her mom had always advised her to err on the side of being overdressed and most of the time that worked out okay, but she didn’t want to feel uncomfortable. Which is why she had called in for a second opinion from someone who had actually been to a baseball game before.   

“What about that denim dress that buttons up the front?” The image of Sara on her screen shook a bit as she jostled her phone when she hopped up onto her makeup chair to get prepped for a scene. “Or did you leave that in Starling?”

“Oooh no, I did pack that. And for it being September, it’s still kinda hot here today, so that would work.” Finding the dress, she slipped it off the closest rod and showed it to Sara who was getting a fake wound applied to the side of her face. “Yikes, does your girl take a beating in this episode?”

“I think this is one of those, _“you should see the other guy”_ situations,” Sara remarked.

In the background, she heard someone who she thought sounded like the actress that Sara was the double for comment, _“It absolutely is.”_

“And yes, you should definitely go with that dress,” Sara added.  

{[See Felicity's dress here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/852293816774209536)}

“Okay, one second.” She closed her closet door so that she could get dressed without giving a show to anyone who was in the make-up trailer with Sara.

When she stepped out, Sara gave her the thumbs up, “Perfect.”

She buttoned up the last button, “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem.  I’m so glad you were able to catch me, I feel like we haven’t talked in forever. It’s been like three weeks, hasn’t it?” Her eyes widened and she dropped her voice to a whisper, “Oh my gosh. I feel awful Felicity, things got crazy on set and I never called you back like I said I would. How did things go when you talked to Oliver after you ditched him in the hallway?”

“It’s okay, I certainly know what it’s like to have a lot going on. I didn’t call you either so…” She shrugged. “And, with Oliver…. Ehhh…”

Sara gave her a knowing, sympathetic look, “Sorry.”

“I mean we’re friends, it’s good. You and I had already discussed why having feelings for him was pointless back on my birthday, so I don’t know why I felt the need to drag all that back up again. Nothing has changed.”

“Umm he tried to kiss you, so I would say some things have definitely changed.”  

She was glad she could hear the water running in Oliver’s shower so there was no way he was accidentally overhearing this conversation.

“Well he said that was a mistake—“ Sara mouthed _“ouch”_ and she continued, “--so we’re just forgetting about it.”

Sara gave her a skeptical look and was about to say something but a crowd of people entered the makeup trailer and it got noisy.

“I guess I should probably let you go.”

Sara sighed, “Yeah. But hey, before we know it filming goes on a break for the holidays and we’ll both be in Starling, so you and I are having a sleepover and staying up all night catching up on everything that’s been going on with us.” She pouted, “Because I miss my best friend.”

“I miss you too. I hate not seeing you every day anymore.”

“Chrismukkah,” Sara promised. “A whole pan of Caroline’s brownies and some much needed girl time.”

“I can’t wait.” The makeup artist started working on a particularly ghastly streak of blood and Felicity knew it was time to end things, even though she wished she could keep talking to Sara for hours. “Well, I’ll let you finish getting bloody so you can go pretend to beat someone up.”

Sara laughed, “Thanks. Have fun at the game.”  

* * *

When Felicity emerged from her bedroom and looked at him sitting on the couch waiting for her, she frowned, and he asked her what was wrong.

“Nothing.” She pointed at his Starling Rocket’s t-shirt. “It’s just, am I dressed okay for this? I’ve never been to a game before, and I don’t have like any team apparel to wear. Is that important? I don’t want to look out of place.”

“No, you’re fine like that. You look nice.” He stood up and gestured to the door of his room, “I actually have another hat though, if you want to borrow it.”

Her face brightened. “Oh. Yeah, sure. You literally wear the same hat every time we go to the gym though, why did you pack multiple hats to bring here?” she asked in amusement as she followed him over to his bedroom.

“I’m terrible at packing,” he admitted. “I just threw a bunch of random stuff in boxes and called it a day. So that’s why I have more hats than I need considering I wear a suit everyday.” He pointed at the one he was wearing, “I always just end up grabbing this one for the gym because it’s my favorite.”

“Gotcha.” She hung back in the doorway as he grabbed the other hat off of his dresser, black with the red Starling Rockets logo embroidered on it, and brought it over to her. “This is going to need adjusting,” he muttered, pulling apart the snaps on the back and tightening it before setting it down on her head. “That fit?”

Looking up at him, she confirmed, “Yeah. Thanks!”

She looked really cute and something about seeing her wearing something of his made his heart feel like it was doing cartwheels in his chest.

“Thank you again for arranging this.” He gave her a shy grin, “I’ve been looking forward to it.”

It meant a lot to him that she wanted to do things with him, instead of her just doing things and him following along as usual. It wasn’t that he minded that his days revolved around her schedule, but he appreciated the chance to share something he enjoyed with her.

“Me too.” She patted his arm, “But you’re going to have to explain all the rules and stuff to me. Growing up, my dad’s idea of father daughter bonding time involved taking apart computers, not attending baseball games.”

“You’re a genius, you’ll catch on quick,” he assured her.

* * *

Upon their arrival at the ballpark, they showed their passes to be led up to the suites level and she nudged Oliver, pointing out the security guards manning the elevator, “See, you can be off duty tonight and just enjoy the game.”

At the door to the Palmer Tech suite they were greeted by Ray who called in a woman from outside on the balcony overlooking the field to meet them.

She was wearing jean shorts and a Mets jersey, her long dark hair pulled up into a curled ponytail, and Felicity breathed an internal sigh of relief at picking out the right outfit for herself.  

“Felicity, Oliver, this is Anna, my fiancé,” Ray introduced them and Anna smiled warmly, shaking both of their hands.  

“It’s nice to meet you. Although, Felicity, I think we actually might have met at the showroom opening party,” Anna remarked. “You were wearing red, right?”

“Oh yeah. I remember now. I didn’t realize then who you were, but we ended up at the dessert table together ranking the different mini cupcake flavors.”

Ray laughed and looked down at his fiancé fondly, “Sounds about right.” He gestured at the kitchen island where catering dishes were set up, “Feel free to help yourself to some food if you want and then you can make your way out onto the seats on the balcony for the start of the game. We have a few staff members and their families joining us tonight too, so you guys are lucky you got here first and you can get dibs on good seats.”

“Thank you again for letting us join you today.” She grabbed a plate and started filling it with food. “And for the beautiful flowers you sent over.”

“You are welcome here any time, Felicity. Remind your Uncle of that too, it’s been too long since he’s come to a game. And you should thank my assistant, he picked the flowers out. I think he might still have a bit of a crush on you from the last time you were by.”   

She huffed in amusement at the memory of Ray’s assistant who awkwardly attempted to flirt with her when she had gone over to PT for a meeting with Ray.

Oliver walked out onto the balcony to watch the teams warm up and Anna ushered her over to one of the tables by the big glass windows overlooking the field to chat while they ate.

“So what do you do Anna?” she asked. “Besides being a dessert connoisseur.”

Anna laughed, “Ah yes, for my day job I’m a high school English teacher. That’s kind of actually how I met Ray. Two years ago he was at the school I teach at meeting with the guidance counselor about offering some students summer internships at PT. I literally ran into him in the hallway and dumped my coffee all over him.” Anna held up her left hand, her engagement ring catching the light, and smiled. “Luckily for me, he found that endearing. How’d you meet Oliver?”

“He just kind of showed up in my living room one morning and I’ve been stuck with him ever since,” she deadpanned and a confused expression passed over Anna’s face. “He’s my bodyguard. We’re not like, a couple,” she clarified.

“Oh.” Anna facepalmed, “Duh. That’s right. I’m sorry; Ray told me that and I totally forgot. Awkward.” She leaned across the table slightly, “Although, between you and me, and don’t take this the wrong way, I don’t want to weird you out if you see him as like a big brother or something, but the two of you would make a cute couple. If he wasn’t your bodyguard, you know?”

She nearly started laughing out loud at Anna, without even realizing it, voicing the dilemma that had vexed her for weeks now.

Instead she shrugged and replied causally, “Yeah, I guess maybe if he wasn’t my bodyguard. But our relationship is so professional, I can’t really see him like that.”

_And the Oscar goes to…. Felicity Smoak!_

It wasn’t long before the suite was filled with people, including the Palmer Tech CFO’s five and seven year old who were running around on a cotton candy sugar rush. Dodging them, Felicity made her way out onto the balcony and slipped into the aisle where Oliver was sitting to take a seat next to him.

As they played the first inning Oliver explained the rules and some of the strategy to her and she found herself getting way more into it than she thought she would. Originally she had just wanted to spend some time with Oliver doing something that he liked, since at the moment his whole life basically revolved around hers, but she didn’t really even have to pretend to be interested for his sake.

“When I was younger, we had season tickets and my dad would take Tommy and I to ball games almost every week during the summer. We would bring our gloves in anticipation of catching a foul ball and one season between the two of us, we caught six,” Oliver recalled. “After about ball three, my dad clued us in to these sisters, whose family had the season tickets for the seats next to us, who would look at us jealously whenever we caught one, and we realized it was more fun to give the baseballs we caught to cute girls than to keep them for ourselves.” She looked over at him and saw a sad smile on his face at the memory of his dad and she moved her arm over a fraction of an inch on the armrest between them to touch her pinky finger to his. “I took Thea to games after Mom and Dad died because it was one of the ways to keep some of the good memories alive.”

“I like when you tell me stuff like that,” she confided. “I mean, you got a whole file to read on everything there is to know about me, but I didn’t get a file on you and you don’t talk about yourself a lot.”

“Well, normally bodyguards are supposed to not really be seen or heard,” he pointed out.

She looked over at him shyly, “Yeah, but it’s different with us.”  

He was quiet for a second as he just looked at her before echoing softly, “Yeah.” The sound of fans cheering as a home run was hit broke the invisible thread that she felt connecting them and the moment was gone as Oliver cleared his throat and looked away from her. “Anyway, the stuff that I learned from reading your file was mostly pretty boring. It didn’t prepare me for the fact that you perform entire concerts in the shower—“ She blushed, not realizing that he heard her jamming out in the shower every morning. “—or that you have terrible taste in pizza toppings or that if you’re chewing on a pen and there’s a little crinkle in between your eyebrows while your eyes are glued to your computer screen then there’s no way I’m getting your attention because you’re not even in the room anymore but wherever you go in your head when you’re working on something that really interests you.”

“You’re observant,” she remarked, pushing down the little flutters in her stomach that he paid attention to so many small details about her.

“I get paid to be.”

“Oh. Right.” She deflected her disappointment by joking, “Maybe I should try observing you all day, see if I would be cut out to be a bodyguard.”

He laughed, “You thinking of making a career change?”

“I am only a freshman in college, it’s not too late.”

Shaking his head in amusement, he replied, “Well, based on my observations, I would say you should just stick to what you’re doing. Because you’re kind of amazing at it.”

She smiled up at him, “Thank you Oliver.”

Much to most of the Palmer Tech crew’s chagrin, but her and Oliver’s delight, the Rockets ended up besting the Mets by a close margin after nine competitive and entertaining innings (that involved Oliver telling her more stories from his childhood, with only mild prodding from her). Once they had said their goodbyes and repeated thanks, they headed out to where the valet brought the car around for them and slowly inched their way through the crowded streets surrounding the ballpark to navigate home.

They climbed up the stairs to their floor, and when they paused in the living room she commented, “I guess there weren’t any photographers trying to get pictures of me tonight because a baseball game is the last place they would have anticipated me to be.”

He nodded in agreement, “You’re probably right. Thanks for arranging it though, I had a really nice time.”

“You’re welcome. I had a nice time too. You might just have made a baseball fan of me.”

He grinned, “Is that so?”

“Yeah. So if there’s something else that you enjoy doing… count me in. I’m serious about wanting you to feel like your life here is more than just your job, okay?”

His face changed to a contemplative expression as he replied quietly, “Okay.”  

It was dark in the apartment except for the lights of the city and the moon streaming in through the big glass windows and she was definitely feeling a little bit of déjà vu as they stood there, so close to each other that she could see his chest rising and falling with each breath even in the dim light.

Taking a little step even closer to him, she whispered, “I promise I won’t run off this time.”

The rational part of her was screaming, _“Why would you say that? The last time you had one of these encounters he said it was a mistake! Do you really want to rehash that?”_

The irrational part of her just wanted to be kissed and so she flicked her eyes down to his mouth before bringing them back up to hold his gaze and licked her lips.

An eyebrow lifted and there was a brief flash of hesitation on his face before the corner of his mouth flicked up in a half smile and he reached a hand out, lifting the brim of her baseball hat to swivel it around backwards like his so that he could tip his head down and brush his lips against hers. It was the barest of kisses and yet she felt it spreading warmth like rays of sunshine all the way down to her toes.

His eyes stayed closed as he pressed his forehead against hers and muttered, “We really shouldn’t—“

“Keep ignoring our feelings for each other? I agree,” she interrupted him, placing her hands on his chest and sliding them up to wrap her arms around his neck and tilting her chin up invitingly.

He obliged her, tugging at her bottom lip with his teeth and then giving it a delicate, soothing kiss, before trailing his fingers down her arm and tangling them with hers to tug her over to the couch. When they sat down, their knees touching as he turned to face her, she braced herself for whatever he was going to say. She was reminded of why she had been afraid to let him kiss her before, she didn’t want to experience something that seemed so perfect only to have it yanked away from her because he could only ignore his contractual obligations for so long.

“Felicity,” he began and she struggled to meet his eyes. “Felicity, please don’t think that I don’t want this.”

“Just get on with the _‘but’_ ,” she muttered when he paused, looking down at her hands as she clasped and unclasped them.

“When I took this job, I had no idea that I was going to come to feel for you like I do,” he continued, ignoring her request. She didn’t want to sit here and have him explain to her why kissing her was a mistake. She just wanted to go to her room and have a solid cry so she could wake up the next morning and be over it. Or at least pretend she was over it. He let out a quiet laugh, “Especially with you determined to make my life miserable when I first started.”

“I could have been much worse,” she reminded him, finally looking up at him with (mostly) fake irritation on her face. “You won me over too quickly.”

“Well I did say I was up for a challenge,” he teased and she couldn’t help but smile. His smile quickly changed to a frown though, “I just didn’t realize the hardest part of the job would be this. Wanting there to be something more between us, but knowing it could never work. I signed a contract Felicity, and I can’t even tell you how many times John has drilled into all of us that at the end of the day our relationship with our clients is a professional one.” He sighed, “I can’t be the boyfriend with a seat at the table and the bodyguard scanning the room for threats. And if I’m not your bodyguard, I’m back in Starling taking a new assignment. Besides all of that, you said it yourself, you’re nervous about the new spotlight you’ve just put on yourself… people would have a field day discussing whether or not our relationship is appropriate, and I don’t want that to distract from what they should be focusing on, from the inspiration that you are.”

She knew he was right about that. She had read enough tabloid headlines, ones about herself including, to know what people would latch onto given the choice between her accomplishments and her relationship with her bodyguard who was seven years older than her. The last thing she wanted was to give people a reason to pry into her private life any more than they already did.

She had been wrong, it was way worse knowing for certain how he felt about her and not being able to do anything about it than it had been when they were both pretending they just wanted to be friends—

A lightbulb went off inside her head.

\--unless there _was_ something they could do about it.

“Okay but what if,” she began hesitantly, tapping her fingers on his knee. “What if no one knew?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, obviously it’s not ideal, or a permanent solution really, but for now we can just keep up professional appearances when we’re out in public so you can still do your job and we can avoid attracting unwanted gossip. No one has to know what our relationship is like at home.” She felt a little guilty at the thought of keeping such a big secret from her family, from John, from her friends, but she knew that, with their present circumstances, if they wanted to be romantically involved, it would have to stay between them. People’s reactions were completely unpredictable and she couldn’t risk Oliver losing his job because someone involved in making decisions about his employment found out and didn’t approve. Telling Sara wouldn’t be a problem obviously, but she wanted to have that conversation in person, instead of in texts or during a rushed chat over the phone when their schedules magically managed to align, so it could just wait until they were both in Starling for the holidays. She gave Oliver an amused half-smile, “I mean, we’ve gotten pretty good at pretending that there’s nothing going on between us, we nearly had ourselves fooled.”

He shook his head, “Yeah.” Reaching out to take her hand in his, he brushed his thumb over her knuckles, “I don’t want to keep doing that. But are you sure you’re okay with not telling anyone?”

“Well, I don’t want you to get fired.” She shrugged. “So, yeah.” She started to lean in to kiss him but a huge yawn cracked over her face and he burst out laughing.

Burying her face in his shoulder in embarrassment, she muttered, “I am so sorry.”

He ran his hand up and down her back, “It’s okay. It’s been a long week.”

She pulled back to look up at him and sighed, “Every week is a long week.”

“Tomorrow’s your day off though,” he pointed out. “We finishing our Harry Potter marathon?”

She grinned, her dream last weekend of cuddling up on the couch next to him now an actual possibility, “Of course.”

He stood up from the couch and grabbed her hands to help pull her up to her feet and they walked hand and hand over to the hallway with their bedrooms, pausing to stand in between the facing doors.

He caressed her cheek with his hand and the smile on his face was a little different than ones he had given her before, like he was finally letting her see the emotions he had been trying to keep concealed for some time now. “Goodnight Felicity.”

“Goodnight,” she echoed softly.

Kissing her one last time, he dropped his hand from her face and she turned to push open the door to her room. Before she stepped inside though, she spun back around and, rolling up on her toes, gave him another quick kiss on the cheek before disappearing into her room and shutting the door behind her.

Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest and she practically skipped into her bathroom giddily to get ready for bed.  

* * *

There was a stupid grin on his face, and he didn’t need the confirmation from his bathroom mirror to know it was there. Leaning in a little closer to his reflection he saw the faint traces of her lipstick on his cheek and he sighed. In terms of bad ideas, this probably ranked lower than a lot of the stuff he and Tommy did in high school, but it was still definitely not smart. Besides her habits and quirks, the other thing that the file he was given on her could not have prepared him for was the fact that he was going to fall so hard for her. And even though he felt like this idea of hers, to have a relationship in secret, was going to result in a pretty disastrous crash at the bottom, he had already slipped off the edge weeks ago. There was nothing to do now but enjoy the rush of the free fall and hope the ground was a long ways away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have no idea how hard it was for me not to spoil this lol. I've known that this chapter was going to be the turning point on the slow burn for weeks now but I was trying not to give it away when I replied to comments last week. Anyways, thank you for being patient (some of you were not so patient but it's okay I still love you) while I developed their friendship first :) The story is far from over....


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! Sorry there was no update last week, things got a little unexpectedly crazy with school and I had to put writing on the back burner, but in return for your patience, I have a long chapter this week :) Enjoy!

Iris gasped, “Oh Felicity, I found the perfect dress for you. You’re a knockout in red, you have to try this on!”

From where he was standing keeping an eye on things while Iris and Felicity shopped for the CatCo party that coming Friday, Oliver watched her take the red dress of the rack. Felicity appeared from around another rack with a dress in her hand to take a look at Iris’ selection.

“That is really pretty,” Felicity agreed. He agreed too. “Here let’s swap, because I think this would be perfect on you.”

She handed Iris the dark blue dress she had been holding and the two of them disappeared behind the curtain of the dressing room.

{[See their dresses here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/854399894559350784)}

While he was waiting for them to emerge, his phone started ringing and he pulled it out to see that it was John. Taking a deep breath, he pushed to receive the call.

“Hey man, what’s up?”

“Just calling to check in and see how things are going out there…”

Y **esterday...**

> "Oliver, stop, you’re not paying attention to the movie.” She laughed and squirmed in his lap as he kissed her neck. He had had no idea that the night before was going to end the way it had, and he probably could have convinced himself that the whole thing had been a dream if she hadn’t bid him good morning earlier by coming up behind him while he was making coffee and wrapping her arms around his torso in a sleepy hug.
> 
> Over the course of his employment he had opened himself up to her more than his professional obligations necessitated, and now with her opening the door for him to stop shoving aside his feelings for her, months of affection he had been holding back all wanted to burst through at once. He was glad for the friendship they had already built, something that was markedly different from his past relationships, and the subsequent comfort and trust between them as they progressed their relationship into something more.  
> 
> “I read the book,” he muttered against her bare shoulder where her big Smoak & Kuttler pajama shirt was slipping off. “I know what happens.”
> 
> She was facing the television so he couldn’t see her face, but he had a feeling she was rolling her eyes at him and he smiled, pressing his lips against her skin one last time, before leaning back against the couch cushions to continue watching Harry and the gang hunt down horcruxes. A feeling of contentment settled over him as she relaxed against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her—

* * *

 

He cleared his throat, “Uhh things are going well.”

Deep down he knew that they were eventually going to have to be transparent about their relationship, but being on opposite sides of the country for the time being made it easy to prolong that conversation, or conversations, that he had a feeling would be incredibly uncomfortable.

“I almost feel like my job is too easy,” he continued. “Her safety hasn’t really been threatened, aside from driving her around and occasionally keeping some over eager paparazzi away, I haven’t had to do much*.”

_*That’s actually in my job description._

He didn’t think that the baking cinnamon rolls and movie marathons and car chats were what her parents signed the check to Spartan Security for.  

“A man who is without an umbrella will inevitably find himself in a rainstorm. It’s better to just be over cautious, because there is always a risk that something could happen,” John reminded him. “Her father’s past raises cause for concern, even with him being distanced from that life for some time now. Revenge sometimes takes its time rearing its head. At the very least though, even if she is never endangered, your job is still important in helping her parents sleep easier knowing their daughter isn’t all by herself while constantly traveling back and forth between two states. I wouldn’t worry about being out of a job any time soon just because you aren’t having to jump in front of bullets regularly.”

_There are definitely other reasons that I should be worried about losing my job for though._

He chuckled, hoping it didn’t come across as nervous laughter, and replied, “Well, that’s good to know.”

John spoke to him for a few more minutes, telling him about some new hires he was training and an event they had staffed the weekend before. He gave the occasional “uh-huh,” but he was no longer paying very close attention because Felicity and Iris had stepped out of the dressing room and were modeling their dresses for each other.

She glanced over in his direction and raised a questioning eyebrow and he gave her a look with the intention to convey, _“you’re gorgeous, you should definitely pick that one, if we weren’t in public and keeping it professional I would kiss you right now.”_ The message must have been received because she subtly blew him a kiss before returning her attention to Iris, and he wrapped up his call with John.

“I really do like this,” Iris was saying when he hung up. “But I just don’t think I can afford to buy something new right now.” She checked the price tag and he saw her eyes widen. “Umm yeah I think I’ll just wear something I already have in my closet.”

Felicity waved a hand dismissively, “Don’t worry about it. Consider it a gift.”  

“Oh no, I can’t let you—“

“You’re not going to be able to say no to her, she’s going to wear you down,” he commented and they both looked over at him. “You might as well just concede now.”

Felicity smirked triumphantly and Iris sighed in resignation, “Okay, fine. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”   

**October**

“I think she’s asleep,” Felicity whispered, looking up from her laptop at Iris. When they had picked her up at her apartment that morning she had walked out to the car, coffee thermos in hand, and greeted them groggily. Apparently she had been up most of the night working on an article and so not even whatever extra shot of espresso something she had in her thermos was enough to keep her from nodding off not long after they were in the air. Which she would probably be pretty disappointed about since she had been looking forward to her first ever private flight and it looked as though she could end up sleeping through the whole thing.

Oliver reached over and took her hand in his, bringing it up to his lips to press a kiss to her fingers before resting their intertwined hands on the armrest between them.

She had been worried that she would wake up the morning after the baseball game to discover that he regretted what had transpired between them and had changed his mind about wanting a relationship with her. She certainly wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t think she was worth the potential repercussions.

But then she realized that was her insecurities talking and Caroline was always reminding her that she needed to tell them to shut up. Oliver having a dimple-y grin on his face and kissing her good morning when she mustered the courage to walk out of her bedroom and test the waters with a hug was quite effective at helping to silence them too.

It felt good to finally be honest with herself, and with him, about how she was feeling, and it felt even better knowing that those feelings were reciprocated.

**Tuesday...**

> “What are you working on?” Oliver asked, coming up behind her where she was sitting at the counter in their apartment.
> 
> She tilted her head back to look up at him, “Homework for my calculus and analytical geometry class.” Returning her focus to her laptop, she started copying out the next problem into her notebook and Oliver’s hands came to rest on her shoulders, massaging them.
> 
> “Mmm,” she dipped her head to the side. “Not that I’m complaining, because that feels really nice, but I’m going to fall asleep if you keep it up.”
> 
> “It is almost midnight,” he pointed out, continuing to ease the tension that had built up in her muscles from being hunched over typing notes in her lectures all day. “Other than a few minutes for dinner, you haven’t stopped working since you got out of class.”  
> 
> “I only have three more problems, and if I get this done tonight I’ll feel less guilty about sleeping in a little tomorrow,” she rationalized before sighing as he hit a particularly bad knot at the base of her neck. “But you’re going to have to keep your hands to yourself or I’m not going to be able to focus.”
> 
> “Sorry,” he apologized, kissing the top of her head and retracting his hands. “To be continued?”
> 
> “Definitely going to take you up on that,” she assured him.
> 
> Twenty-six minutes later she wrote out the solution to her last problem and closed her laptop before sliding off the barstool.
> 
> Olive was sitting on the couch watching ESPN on mute and when she walked over he looked up, “All finished?”  
> 
> She nodded, “Yeah.”
> 
> He reached up for her hand, gently pulling her down to sit in between his legs and he started rubbing her shoulders again.    
> 
> “Can I ask you something?” she asked as he found the tense spot on her neck again and her words faded into a sigh.
> 
> “You just—“
> 
> “Don’t say ‘you just did’ or I’m going to go to bed and you’ll just have to wonder what I was going to ask,” she interrupted him faux-seriously. He tickled the side of her neck and she shrugged her shoulders up in self-defense.
> 
> “Sorry.” He chuckled and trailed a hand up and down her spine. “What did you want to ask?”
> 
> Suddenly she felt self-conscious and she was glad she wasn’t looking at him as she fumbled with her words, “Umm I was just sort of wondering when you realized that you like, uhh….”
> 
> “Realized that I was in huge trouble because I had feelings for you that should get me fired?” he supplied.
> 
> She patted his thigh reassuringly, “You’re not going to get fired. But yeah… that, I guess.”
> 
> “It was right before we left for New York when I finally admitted to myself that I wanted something more with you and I wished our situation was different. I know that I was in denial for a long time before that though, so I can’t really pinpoint some exact moment where things changed. I guess it was more of a gradual shift as I got to know you better and our interactions became less formal.”
> 
> She turned around to face him, straddling his lap and smoothing her hands across his chest, “Mmm me too, it was like one morning I walked downstairs and saw you reading in your usual chair in the living room and I realized that at some point I had stopped being annoyed at seeing you there and instead was really happy that you were in my life.” Dipping her head shyly, she added, “I just didn’t think it was possible that you wanted the same things I did.” Even with Caroline’s vague comment before they departed from Starling, she had remained convinced that she had been projecting her own desires onto his words and actions. At least until he made the move that couldn’t be confused for platonic affection, despite her attempts to dismiss it. “That’s kind of why I freaked out on you the night of the Palmer Tech party, I was really surprised…. And also, I didn’t want you to do something I was worried you would regret. When you said it had been a mistake…”
> 
> He tipped her chin up to look at him and replied, “I said what I thought you wanted me to say, but I wouldn’t have regretted kissing you then—“ He pressed his lips to hers softly before resting his forehead against hers. “—And I’m happy I can kiss you now.”

* * *

“Are you looking forward to tonight?” Oliver asked.

She shrugged, “Yeah. I think so. I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m excited to see Caroline and I’m glad Iris could come along…oh!” She squeezed his hand, “I should have invited Thea, she totally could have travelled with Caroline. I’m so sorry for not thinking of that, I bet you would have appreciated the chance to see her.”

“It’s okay, she’s still leery of getting on a plane, so I don’t know if she would have been up for it.” She nodded in understanding and he added, “But she did ask if I could send her an autographed copy of your issue.”  

“Huh. I’ve never had anyone ask for my autograph before, but we can definitely make that happen.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “Is it hard being away from her?”

“It’s the longest we’ve been apart since we lost Mom and Dad, so it’s a little strange. But I know she’s doing well and I get to talk to her a lot, which makes it easier. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing her when we head home for the holidays though.”

“It’s going to be weird not living together for a month,” she remarked. When they went home to Starling in December for her semester break from school, their arrangement would be back to the way it was over the summer, with him living at his own place and only being on duty for the hours of the day when she went out and about. If there were days she didn’t go anywhere (the sort of days she was planning on having a lot of) and subsequently didn’t need her bodyguard, it wasn’t like she would have a legitimate reason to just have him over to hang out and she wanted to give him some time with his friends and family anyway.

A quiet voice tapped at the edge of her mind and whispered that maybe it was a little presumptuous to assume that there would even be something to figure out come December, but while she didn’t have any prior relationship experience, she knew that what she felt for Oliver was more than just a crush that would fizzle out after she got her fix, and she liked to think that was how it was for him too.

“It’s still two and a half months away, you’ll probably be ready for a break from me by then,” he teased.

She closed her eyes and snuggled in closer to his side, muttering, “Sure. Definitely going to need a break from you. You better make sure Rob’s schedule is clear.”

He chuckled softly, “We’ll find a way to be together, and we’ve got a while before we have to figure that out.”

She knew he was referring to the holiday break, but she couldn’t help but think longer down the road from that when they could no longer keep their relationship a secret and had to find some other way to make things work with their situation.

But like he said, they had a while before they had to figure that out. Things were just fine for the moment, more than just fine actually, and she spent so much time thinking about the future in many aspects of her life that it was nice to just take things one day at a time with him.

Iris stirred and she sat up straight, untangling her fingers from Oliver’s, but she quickly resumed her soft snoring so she relaxed again as she slipped in her headphones. It wasn’t that she thought Iris couldn’t be trusted with the knowledge of their relationship, but she could justify telling a lot of people, and then at what point did it become, not keeping something private between her and Oliver, but just lying to her parents and John? By keeping everyone in the dark, she felt slightly less guilty.  

Hitting play on a recording a friend from MIT had sent her of the cryptology lecture she had missed Thursday afternoon because she had to be back in New York earlier for a board meeting, she absentmindedly traced gentle patterns on Oliver’s palm, wrist, and up his forearm. He had promised her this flight was going to be easier for him than the one to New York, but she still wanted to offer some soothing comfort.

When they landed in National City, Kara greeted them at the hangar with a car and driver that CatCo had sent over. They were taken to the offices where they were given a brief tour, something she had requested more for Iris’ benefit than anything since she had expressed an interest in working in National City after she graduated, and then they had a late lunch before heading to the hotel where they would be spending the night to relax until the party that evening.

She was up in the room she would be sharing with Iris checking her emails, when her phone started to ring in her hand. A smile lit up her face when she saw the caller ID and she tapped to accept the call.

“Caroline!” she greeted her excitedly. “Are you almost here?”

“I just stepped inside the lobby.”

“Okay, I’ll be right down. See you in a minute.”

Hanging up and hopping off of her bed, she told Iris where she was headed and knocked on the door that connected their room to Oliver’s.

“Caroline is here, I’m going to go down to the lobby to meet her,” she informed him when he opened the door. “Come with?”

Downstairs she scanned the lobby and, when she found Caroline sitting on one of the couches, she steered her feet towards her. Her heart swelled at the sight of the woman she considered like a second mother and she sped up her pace to close the distance more quickly between them.

“Felicity, Oliver,” Caroline greeted them with a big smile, rising to her feet when she spotted them approaching. “Oh I missed you two.”

Felicity threw her arms around her in a hug, breathing in the scent of the laundry detergent they used at home and her lemony shampoo. “I’m so glad you could come,” she mumbled into her shoulder.

Upon being released from the hug, Caroline smiled warmly and replied, “Me too.” She turned to Oliver and ushered him in for a hug too, that he pretended to be hesitant for, but Felicity saw his expression soften when she wrapped her arms around him. He had confided in her that spending time with Caroline when they were in Starling had made him feel in a small way like he had a part of his mother back and she knew he was just as happy to see her as she was.

* * *

“You would have loved Hamilton,” Felicity remarked while Caroline worked on her hair. After Caroline had arrived at the hotel they had introduced her to Iris and then spent an hour catching up before realizing that they needed to start getting ready for the party. Charlotte had offered to look for someone in National City that they could book to do her hair and makeup, but she declined. She preferred to do her own makeup anyway, and Caroline was as good as her mom at twisting and braiding her hair into works of art. “I would definitely go see it again with you sometime.”

Iris pointed her curling iron at her, “I am so jealous. Every so often tickets show up at the office and it’s practically the Hunger Games in there to claim them.” She laughed and Iris shook her head, “You think I’m being dramatic but I’m not.”

Caroline patted her shoulders, “Okay dear. I’m finished, let’s get you into that dress.”

Glancing in the mirror, she appraised her handiwork and smiled, “You’re amazing. Every time I try to do the braid across my head like that it never turns out right.”

“Well clearly you just need to spend less time helping run a company and attending college, and more time practicing doing your hair,” Caroline teased sarcastically, unzipping her garment bag and pulling out her dress for her while she slipped off her robe.

Once she was in her dress, she touched up her bright red lipstick to match the fabric and slipped on her heels.

“Beautiful,” Caroline assessed. Turning to Iris, she added, “Both of you.”

“You look amazing too Caroline.”

She smoothed her hands over the fabric of her black dress subconsciously, “I was a little nervous borrowing something from your mother. I think I managed to find the tamest thing she owns.”

“I honestly didn’t know she owned something that was a neutral,” Felicity remarked in amusement. “She probably bought it on accident.”

Caroline laughed, “Or because she was in mourning that her daughter left her for New York.”

Felicity frowned, “Is she doing okay?”

She gave her a reassuring smile, “Yes, she just misses you. There’s talk of her and your father flying out to New York to spend Thanksgiving with you and Daniel.”

“That’s a great idea.” She didn’t get enough time off school to justify flying home for Thanksgiving, especially with the winter break only a few weeks later, but she would still love the opportunity to see her parents a little sooner. “I don’t know why we didn’t plan on that before.”

She heard a knock on the door that she assumed was Oliver and excused herself to go open it.

“Hey…” his voice trailed off as his eyes dropped down her body and she had a feeling her skin had flushed to a shade not far off from her dress.

“My eyes are up here Mr. Queen,” she remarked quietly to avoid being overheard and he snapped his gaze up to meet hers with a grin.

“Sorry.” His voice didn’t sound unapologetic in the slightest. “You almost ready to go?” he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. If Iris and Caroline weren’t in the bathroom only a few feet away, she had a feeling those hands would be trailing down her bare arms. One thing she had discovered about Oliver since they had ditched the last shreds of professionalism between them, when they weren’t putting it on for the public’s sake, was that he was very affectionately tactile.

Something she didn’t mind in the slightest.

“Yes.” She nodded, clasping her hands behind her back to keep herself from reaching out for him.  

“Okay. The driver just texted and said he would pull around as soon as we’re at the doors.”

* * *

To her surprise there was quite a crowd gathered outside the art museum where the party was being held, and the mix of what looked like reporters and civilians all started clamoring for her when they saw her step out of the car.

She may have been avoiding the press in New York as much as possible lately, but she hadn’t forgotten the skills she had developed over the years in putting on her publicity face and she smiled and waved instinctually. Oliver was close to her side as they navigated through the crowd and she paused briefly every so often to answer a question or join someone for a requested selfie. One girl in particular was really trying to get her attention so she made her way over to her.

“Oh my goodness I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you.” The girl bounced on her toes excitedly and Felicity recognized her coat as one she owned. “Can you sign my magazine?” She held out her copy of the CatCo issue and a metallic silver sharpie.

She had already gotten to see her cover photo, it had been sent over to the office for approval before they went to press, but it still hadn’t quite felt real until she took the magazine from the girl’s outstretched hand and saw her image smiling up at her on the glossy cover. A part of her still thought she was crazy for agreeing to this. It had only been a few months ago that she had balked at the idea of having a bodyguard because she didn’t want to give people another reason to think she was someone noteworthy, but instead wanted to just blend in and be normal.

I’ve been following you on Instagram for years, and it’s because of you that I started a club at my high school for girls who want to learn how to code,” the girl babbled on as she scrawled her name, and she didn’t even have to try to make the smile that spread across her face appear genuine.

_Right. That’s why you’re doing this._

“That’s seriously awesome,” she replied, handing her back her magazine. “If you’re looking for a college internship in a few years, make sure Smoak & Kuttler gets a copy of your resume.” She winked and the girl beamed at her before she got swallowed up by the crowd.  

Suddenly the swarm of people felt overwhelming and she glanced back at Oliver. He read the look on her face without her even having to say anything and started to go into human shield mode, clearing a path for her to get to the door. When they made it inside, Iris and Caroline were standing waiting for them.

“That was quite the crowd,” Iris remarked in amazement.

Caroline hummed in agreement, “I shouldn’t have been surprised. You should have seen how many people showed up outside just her high school graduation ceremony. I think every reporter and blogger in the city wanted to get the full scoop on her post graduation plans. The school was not prepared to say the least.”

“Well, we were supposed to have been more prepared.” Turning her head to the sound of the familiar voice, she saw Cat and Kara approaching them. “The front entrance should have been kept clear. Kiera, figure out who needs to be fired.”

Kara nodded in acknowledgment.  

“Now,” Cat clarified.

“Oh, now. Okay.” She turned on her heels and scurried off.

Cat looked back to her and clapped her hands together, “Let’s get you inside the party Felicity, National City is waiting to meet you.”

* * *

“I trust you’re taking good care of our girl,” Caroline remarked, looking over at him with a knowing smile. If there was anyone who had an inkling of how he felt about Felicity, it was Caroline. Probably not that he was attracted to her in a romantic way, but at least that he cared for her in a way that his job didn’t require, likely before he even admitted it to himself.

“I made your lasagna recipe for dinner this week while we were in Massachusetts,” he offered in response. “Felicity helped.” Caroline’s face morphed into a skeptical expression and he clarified, “Well she attempted to be helpful.”

She laughed, “That sounds more accurate.” They both looked over to where Felicity was speaking with a reporter and she asked, “How is she doing? Really? Her mother is worried about her, and I know she’s an extraordinary young woman, but I share some of Donna’s concerns about all the pressure she puts on herself. I know it’s too late to wish that she didn’t grow up too fast, I just want her to remember that she’s young and she has plenty of time to accomplish things. She doesn’t have to try and do everything at once.”

“She’s enjoying her work, for both the company and school, but she has been a little worn out adjusting to the new routine,” Oliver admitted. “Her Uncle has encouraged her to lean on her staff some more and we’re enforcing Sundays as no work days, so I think that’s helping. You know how determined she is to prove she can handle everything though.”

A reminiscent look appeared on her face, “I do. I still remember when she was just a little girl, she set up a cardboard box as her desk in her father’s study and would pretend to be working with him. I do believe she was only seven when she built her first computer, we caught her sneaking up to her bedroom with parts she pilfered from her father, and she hasn’t stopped being hard at work since then.”

He could picture a little Felicity, like the one he had seen in photographs hanging in her Starling home, acting just as Caroline described her and he smiled at the mental image.

“Seeing her be recognized for her tenacity,” Caroline continued, gesturing around at the party, “Makes me very proud. If she is doing what she loves and is happy, then I am happy.” She put a hand on his arm, “What about you, how are you doing?”

“I’m doing well.”

“Yes?” she pressed.

“Yes,” he assured her.

“Good. I know your job pretty much requires your life to revolve around hers, especially now that you don’t get to go home at the end of the day, but she’s not the only one who shouldn't be working 24/7.”

He understood what she was getting at, and there was a time that he did feel like he was working all the time because he had to be so careful not to let his professionalism slip too much around her, but it was different now. As they had gotten closer, as friends and then something more, it felt more like _their_ crazy life, and not just her life that he was paid to be a part of.

“I know. Felicity said basically the same thing. She wanted to do something of my choosing last weekend, so we went to a baseball game.”  

Caroline’s eyes sparkled, “Felicity at a baseball game? I would have paid money to see that.”

He took his phone out of his pocket to open his photo gallery to a picture Anna had taken for them outside the stadium with the sign behind them. Felicity was mid-jump with a grin on her face and her blonde hair flying everywhere and he wasn’t looking at the camera but watching her with an amused look. “Here you go.”

“Oh this is very cute.” Caroline handed his phone back to him and patted his arm. “I’m glad she has you Oliver, and Miss West. Her being lonely while she’s so far from home is one thing I know I don’t have to worry about.”

* * *

After Cat had finished with her formal greeting of the party guests and introduction of the guest of honor, her, she spent the next two hours talking with countless people who approached her with interest. Now that she found herself standing alone, she took a quiet deep breath, enjoying the pause in the constant stream of conversations.

Looking around she saw that Iris was occupied talking to some of the National City Catco reporters they had met earlier and Caroline was busy conversing with some other party guests as well. She caught Oliver’s eye from where he was across the room keeping watch and slipped her phone out of her clutch to shoot him a text.

**FELICITY: Follow me…**

Not waiting for him to respond, she started weaving her way through the crowd to sneak off to a side hallway outside of the main event space that she had noticed when they were entering the venue earlier. Aside from a few modern art sculptures, it was empty when she arrived, and she leaned against the wall, waiting for Oliver to catch up with her.

“Are you okay?” Oliver asked as soon as came around the corner, his eyebrows furrowed. She gave him a look and his face relaxed into a smile, “Oh.”

“Mhmm.” She crooked a finger at him. “Come here.”

He came to stand in front of her, still keeping a little distance as he pointed out, “We’re in public….”

Reaching out for his tie, she fiddled with it, looking up at him innocently, “I don’t see anyone in this hallway.”

“Valid point,” he consented, taking another step closer and dipping his head down to kiss her. She knew this was risky, anyone could walk by any moment, but she was too caught up in him to care. Not that she had much to compare with, but she had been learning since last weekend that she had been very right in her speculation that he was an amazing kisser. Clutching at the lapels of his suit jacket, she pulled him in and parted her lips for him to deepen the kiss and—

“Ack!”

In surprise, she sent Oliver staggering backwards, pushing him almost all the way to the other side of the hallway and creating a span of distance between them like that would somehow make the scene look less incriminating. Whipping her head over to the source of the exclamation, she discovered Kara with her hand over her eyes muttering, “Why does this keep happening to me?”

“Uhh Kara,” she began tentatively and Kara cracked open her fingers to peer at her hesitantly. “This is kind of a big favor to ask, but can you not tell anyone—“

“Oh don’t worry, I’m already mentally erasing the last five minutes,” Kara assured her, backing out of the hallway and mumbling to herself, “When will the tables turn and I’m the one who gets to get caught making out somewhere by an unsuspecting coworker?”  

When she was gone, Felicity let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding and finally looked over at Oliver who was standing paralyzed with an adorable guilty look and red lipstick on his face.

“Well, I think we got lucky there.” Walking over to him, she reached up to wipe away the lipstick she had marked him with and smooth out some wrinkles in his jacket. “I don’t think she completely realized who she stumbled upon and, even if she did, she doesn’t seem likely to bring it up in conversation with anyone.”

“But we should get back out to the party,” Oliver added and she nodded in agreement. “And we’re going to have to be more careful, or this isn’t going to stay a secret for very long.”

She sighed, “You’re right.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! I am so sorry that I missed an update last week, I had every intention of getting a chapter up and then things just got too crazy with finishing up finals and moving home from school. Thank you for all of your encouraging comments, I didn't get a chance to reply to all of them last week but know that I did read them and I love hearing your feedback. The good news is that I am home now on summer break and I have way more time to write so we should be back to regular weekly updates until the story is finished :) Enjoy the chapter!

“What is he doing?!” Felicity yelled at the television. “You can’t put something in the ice cream machine with less than five minutes left!” She pressed her face into his shoulder and mumbled, “I can’t watch this, this is too stressful.”

Chuckling, he pointed out, “You do realize it doesn’t affect your life in any way if he doesn’t get his dish plated?”

He found it amusing that she was more stressed out watching Chopped than she had been that week juggling exams in a few of her classes and meeting with new clients. It was late Saturday night and she had made it to the end of the marathon of a week, so they were enjoying their first chance to relax by eating take-out Thai food in her bed and watching chefs attempt to make the basket items of kumquats, cinnamon toast crunch cereal, wonton wrappers, and cream cheese into deserts.

She pulled away from his shoulder and pointed her chopsticks at him, “Hey, I’m invested here.”

Shaking his head in amusement, he set aside his empty carton and chopsticks and slung an arm around her shoulder while they finished their episode, watching the guy who attempted five-minute ice cream get chopped.

When she flipped the tv and the lamp on her bedside table off, leaving the room bathed in just the lights of the moon and the city at night streaming through her open window, she moved into his lap and smoothed her hands over his chest. Her nails were painted a bright pink and, even in the relative darkness, the color popped off of his gray t-shirt.

“I didn’t think this week was ever going to end. It’s weird because, even though we were together the whole time, I feel like I didn’t spend any time with you.” She tilted her head, “Does that even make sense?”

“Yeah,” he answered, catching one of her hands and tangling his fingers with hers. “You were busy— busier than usual. We weren’t home alone much, so I mostly had to be just your bodyguard.” He lifted their intertwined hands up to kiss her knuckles. “And you yelled at me to leave you alone while you were studying for your exams.”

“I did not yell,” she protested.

“Fine, you used your loud voice,” he amended teasingly.

“Because you were being distracting.”

Looking up at her innocently, he claimed, “I didn’t do anything.”

She narrowed her eyes, “You went for a run and then had the audacity to try and come make breakfast shirtless and sweaty while I was sitting at the counter reviewing—attempting to review, my cryptology notes. How was I not supposed to be distracted by that view?”

He grinned at her admission, “Well you aced that exam, so all is forgiven, right?”

“I suppose I can put it behind us,” she replied faux-seriously, her eyes sparkling as she leaned in to give him a kiss. “Besides, I have time to be distracted now,” she whispered against his lips, tugging on the hem of his shirt.

Lifting his arms to help her take it off, he watched as she tossed it to the side and took him in, her eyes darkening. She traced along the grooves and smooth planes of muscle, leaving trails of fire on his skin with her gentle touch and light scratches. Finally, he couldn’t remain still any longer and she let out a gasp of surprise as he rolled them over in one smooth motion to hover over her, nestling himself in between her legs.

A smile appeared on her face as he took a second to just look at her, her hair fanned out around her head like a blonde halo, and stroke her flushed cheek with his thumb. For a second his mind flickered back to the dream he had all those months ago of waking up with her in his bed, before he even thought it was something he wanted. It had felt so real and yet paled in comparison to the reality he was in now.  

Dipping his head down, he dragged his mouth along her neck until he found a sensitive spot that made her breath catch and he nipped at the soft skin gently before soothing it over with his tongue. Subconsciously he was aware that he was probably going to leave a mark, which wasn’t a good idea considering the secretive nature of their relationship, but his brain and his body’s communication was a bit foggy at the moment. Especially as he was met with the sounds of contentment spilling from her lips as she dug her fingers into his back encouragingly.

Moving back to her mouth, he kissed her hungrily while his hands trailed down her sides, finding bare skin to caress where her shirt had ridden up. He let a little more of his weight settle down onto her, rolling his hips and—

“Oliver,” she breathed out breaking away from the kiss and pushing on his chest to put some distance between them, abruptly popping the bubble he had felt like he was floating in. “Sorry. I can’t—I just—I’m sorry.”

“Hey,” he whispered softly when his head finally cleared a little, running his thumb over the crinkle that had formed between her eyebrows. “It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize if you want to stop,” he assured her as he shifted off of her to lie down at her side. Despite that fact that he was crossing about a million lines that his job dictated he shouldn’t, that didn’t change the fact that his number one priority was making her feel safe. He didn’t want to her to worry that, especially with him being older, he expected certain things from her that she wasn’t ready for.

A little, relieved looking smile turned up the corners of her mouth, “Thank you.” Propping herself up onto her elbow, she exhaled, “I don’t want you to think that I wasn’t enjoying myself. Because I definitely was. Umm… it’s just that this—“ She gestured between the two of them. “—This is all new for me, and I feel like I need to slow down a little.”

He kissed her forehead, “Of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get carried away.”

“It takes two to tango,” she pointed out, closing her eyes and resting her head back down on her pillow, her chest rising in slow, deep breaths.

Sitting up, he reached for his t-shirt from where it had landed and slipped it back on, willing the heat racing through his body to cool. He had moved towards the edge of the bed and was trying to decide if he should head for his own room when she sat up and wrapped her fingers around his wrist.

“Wait, you don’t have to leave though.” She pulled her hand away, “Unless you want to. Don’t feel like you have to stay.” She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip, which was even fuller and rosier than usual thanks to their kissing, and he could read the uncertainty in her eyes.

“You want me to stay?”

She nodded, patting the space beside her, a playful smile flickering across her face again. “Yeah. I think I can control myself and not rip any of your clothes off again.”

Chuckling, he crawled back over to her, gathering her into his arms and settling them down comfortably before pulling the covers around them.

She nuzzled her face into his chest and he asked, “So what are we going to do for your day off tomorrow?”

In response she mumbled something that was inaudible before lifting her head up and repeating herself, “Your pick.”

He thought about it for a moment before replying, “Okay. I have an idea.”

She waited through his silence for about fifteen seconds before speaking up, “So are you going to tell me?”

“Nope.” One hand was rubbing her back as the other stroked her hair. “It’s going to be a surprise.”  

Sighing, she muttered sleepily, “I hate surprises.”

* * *

Oliver was pressing delicate good morning kisses all over her face and neck and collarbones when they heard her voice echo through the floor of the townhouse.

“Felicity? Sweetheart?”

Her eyes widened and Oliver froze, hovering over top of her. This was unexpected and rather spectacularly poor timing.   

“Oh frack,” she finally whispered when the shock passed, before springing into action and nudging Oliver away so that she could scramble out of bed. “I’ll distract her so you can sneak out of here without her seeing. In case of emergency, just hide in the closet.”

He nodded, coming to sit on the edge of the bed and raking a hand through his hair nervously.

Pausing for a second at the door, she turned back to look at him, “On a scale of one to ten how much do I look like you and I had been—“

Before she could finish her sentence, the sound of footsteps closely approaching had her pointing urgently towards the closet and mouthing, “Hide.”

Oliver was just shutting the closet door behind him when her mom swung the door to her bedroom open and squealed, “Surprise!”

Her mom threw her arms around her in a bone-crushing hug and she mumbled, “Hi mom. I thought you weren’t coming until Thanksgiving?”

“Hence the ‘surprise!’” her mom gushed excitedly when she released her. “I missed you so much and after Caroline got back from seeing you in National City the other week, I realized I couldn’t wait any longer to pay a visit.” Her mom tried to peer around her, “Let me see your bedroom, I didn’t get to see all the finishing touches on the place…”

“Uhh… how about we start the tour from the beginning instead? That’s a very good place to start. Like out in the living room…” she pushed her mom out of the room before she could get a good look at her bed, which definitely still looked like two people had been sleeping in it. “Or even better, the balcony! We have a great view of the city…”

Guiding her slightly confused mom over to the sliding glass doors in the living room, she opened them up and stepped out. It was a chilly fall morning but she wanted to give Oliver enough time to get out of her bedroom.

“Oh this is a nice view,” her mom agreed, walking over to the railing. “Hey, where’s Oliver? I didn’t see him when I came in…” She started to turn around just as Oliver was slipping out of her room and Felicity stepped in front of her to block her view.

“Uh he’s probably still sleeping, or something.” She shrugged and hoped she looked innocent,

“I don’t know.”

She felt bad lying to her mom; this whole thing was a lot easier when the people they were keeping their relationship a secret from weren’t standing in their living room. Her mom would absolutely freak out if she found out though, and she wasn’t entirely sure if it would be a good freak out or a bad freak out. Either way, she wasn’t ready to deal with her reaction, and the implications it could have on Oliver’s employment, quite yet.

“Caroline made it seem like the two of you were pretty close now,” her mom commented.

“Well I guess in comparison to before when I resented his presence and wanted him gone, I would say we’re close.” She needed to change the subject quickly because she was self-aware enough to know that deception was not exactly one of her strong suits. “So how about I show you the rest of the place now.”

Her mom clapped her hands together, seemingly taking the abrupt redirection in stride, “Yes. And then you and I are spending the whole day together.” They walked back inside where Oliver was casually standing in the kitchenette area making coffee and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief that they avoided a potential crisis. “Starting with a trip to the salon because, honey, your roots are looking terrible, you’ve got split ends, and you could use some fresh highlights.” Her mom leaned in close to inspect her hair, “When was the last time you got your dye job touched up? I know you’re busy but—“ She gasped, “Sweetheart, what happened to your neck?”

She heard the sound of a mug clattering behind her and resisted the urge to look back in Oliver’s direction, hoping her mom would ignore it as well. There hadn’t been a chance to check her reflection that morning, but her mind flashed back to the night before and she was able to form a pretty good idea of what her neck might look like. She could only hope her face wasn’t turning a very guilty shade of bright red.

Her mom reached up and pushed her hair back to get a better look, “Or maybe the more appropriate question is, _who?_ ” She bounced on her toes excitedly, “Oooh you met someone at school, didn’t you?” Patting her cheeks, she sighed happily, “I just knew you would finally find someone perfect for you. You can tell me all about him while we have our day out. I mean,” she gestured at her neck with a mischievous look on her face, “clearly things are going well.”  

_I don’t think this is how moms are supposed to react in these situations._

“What? No, mom. No. I just burned myself with my curling iron the other day,” she replied dismissively, the lie slipping from her lips a little more effortlessly than she cared for as she brushed her mom’s hands away. She was pretty sure her mom was smart enough—and had the personal experience to know the difference between a mark made by a curling iron and one that was evidence of a heated make-out session. She sent up a silent prayer that she would accept her explanation though, because she was not about to concoct some imaginary boyfriend.

Her mom deflated, “Oh. Ouch.”  Though her facial expression was still a little skeptical, it appeared that she was going to buy her story. At the very least, she was relieved that her mind had jumped to someone from school and not her live-in bodyguard as the culprit. “Well that’s a really unfortunate looking burn, because it definitely looks like a hickey. No worries though, I learned how to cover up them like a pro when I was your age. When I started dating your father—“

“TMI,” she interrupted her, putting a hand over her mouth. “Wherever you were going with that was definitely going to be TMI.” Her mom nodded in understanding and she removed her hand.

“Sorry,” she apologized with a sheepish look on her face.

“I thought I heard my sister’s voice.” Her Uncle appeared from the stairwell in his pajamas and bathrobe and her mom scurried over to him to give him a hug.

“I used my key,” she explained. “I was glad you hadn’t changed the security system code since I was last here.”

_I, for one, would have appreciated the warning of the alarms blaring._

They started chatting about how her mom’s benefit went and she subtly shuffled over to Oliver.  

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I was going to warn you when you asked how you looked, but I didn’t get a chance to say anything before I was being sent into hiding. I was hoping she wouldn’t see.”

“Don’t sweat it.” She shrugged, “For the most part, I think we handled that potential crisis pretty successfully.” She raised her fist and the corners of his mouth turned up into a conspiratorial smile as he bumped his fist against hers. “Sorry our day off got hijacked though.”

“It’s okay. I know you’ve been missing your mom.”

She sighed, “Yeah. It is good to see her, even unexpectedly.”

When her mom finished catching up with Daniel, he left them to go get dressed and she led her mom into her bedroom where Oliver had thankfully cleared away their trash from dinner the night before and smoothed over the bedspread. Her mom perched on the edge of her bed and gave the room a cursory glance.

“I have to give Daniel credit. He did a good job decorating for you,” she concluded.

“He did acknowledge your contributions,” she pointed out, picking up her dress that she had draped over her armchair when she changed into pajamas the night before.

“Mmm.” Amusement lit up her face, “Did he mention we almost got kicked out of a showroom?”

“He mentioned that you got into a fight, but he conveniently left out that part.”

Her mom laughed and then added, “I’m actually thinking of doing some remodeling at the house.”

“Breaking out your power tools?” she teased, slipping into her closet to hang up her dress and pick something to wear for their day out.

“Let me rephrase that, I’m thinking of overseeing some remodels. I’ve been watching a lot of HGTV with Caroline lately and it’s got me feeling inspired.”

“She’s probably relieved she got you into something other than Real Housewives and The Bachelor,” she muttered under her breath before pulling a dark floral dress off the rack. “Yes or no?”

Her mom nodded approvingly, “Yes. With your tall black boots.”

{[See Felicity's outfit here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/862743978134953987)}

“Okay, one moment,” she responded, shutting the door on her closet to change.

There was a floor length mirror on the inside of the door and she stepped up to it, brushing her hair away and checking her “burn.” How Oliver thought it was going to escape anyone’s notice, let alone her mom’s keen eye, was beyond her. Reaching up, she traced a finger over the dark red staining her fair skin, warmth spreading through her body as she recalled the feeling of him marking her.

It still caught her by surprise whenever she saw the desire in his eyes that made their usual blue shade darken. No one had ever looked at her like that before. And as easy as it was to just let herself get swept away by the emotions her stirred up inside of her, she knew that slowing things down between them was the right call because she wasn’t ready for where things were more than likely headed before she had slammed the brakes on things.

Once she was dressed and her make-up was done, with her mom’s assistance and her careful observation of her cover-up technique… for future reference, they headed out to the car where Oliver was waiting for them with his stoic, all-business demeanor.

“Oh I almost forgot how handsome he is,” her mom whispered wistfully and a little too loudly.

“Try to remember that you’re married,” she muttered, nudging her forward to get into the car and shaking her head at the amused smile that cracked Oliver’s stony expression before it disappeared and he shut the door for them.  

“I booked us appointments at Sally Hershberger,” her mom informed her, handing Oliver a card with the address for the salon. “Thankfully they were able to move some things around to fit us in so last minute. I’m just getting a blow-out, but you need—“ Her mom ran her fingers through her ponytail, “—so much.”

“Okay I know I haven’t made it to the salon since the move, but no one has said anything about my hair looking bad.”

Her mom clicked her tongue, “Maybe not to your face…”

“I—“ She caught Oliver’s eye in the rearview mirror and he gave her a very recognizable, _“Do not bring me into this”_ look. Sighing, she consented, “Fine. Thank you for looking out for the condition of my hair before I get dragged on the internet.”

At the salon, she settled into the chair for what she knew was going to be a long process since the stylist had pretty much had the same reaction as her mom, albeit a little more tactful.

“Wait until you see how beautiful the girls looked at the benefit,” her mom gushed from the station next to her as she was getting bleach painted on to her dark roots. “They were all such sweethearts and so deserving.”

It was tradition for her mom to take the foundation’s scholarship recipients for the year out shopping for dresses, and then to the spa to get manicures and pedicures and their hair and makeup done for the benefit.

When her mom handed her phone over she scrolled through the pictures, stopping on a particularly cute one of the girls posing with their kids.

“We raised a record amount of money, so we’ll be able to give out even more scholarships next year. Plus, I was able to speak with representatives from a few of the city’s most prominent companies that I hadn’t had a chance to reach out to yet about the benefits of offering childcare to their employees. I’m bummed I couldn’t make it to your CatCo party, but—”

“But this was way more important,” she finished for her. “And I’m sure there’ll be more parties. Charlotte has been fielding calls from other magazines and brands ever since my cover released. It’s a little crazy. We got attention in Starling because we’re a prominent family, and as Dad said, people never seem to tire of keeping up with the lives of rich and pretty people, but this is on a whole other level.”

Cat had not been overdramatic when she expressed that she was trying to beat the rush of people who were going to want to snatch her up. Charlotte had been feeding them all the same line about how she was prioritizing work and school at the moment and would get back to them at her nearest availability. Which, according to the official color coded schedule, was going to be when she was dead.

Okay so _that_ was probably a little overdramatic. But she was trying to have a little more balance in her life and that meant not cramming her already busy schedule full with interviews, especially with publications that seemed more interested in gossip than the message she wanted to convey.

“All this new attention is just another reason why hiring you a bodyguard was the right choice,” her mom pointed out.

“I know,” she consented, glancing over at where Oliver was standing near the door to the salon. “I told you, I’ve come to accept that he’s part of my life.”

_In more ways now than you know._

Once her hair was freshly dyed, highlighted, and trimmed, the stylist commented on her damp curls.

“Do you want me to blow your hair out straight or diffuse it?”

 

> * * *
> 
>  
> 
> **Wednesday...**
> 
> Oliver came up behind her while she was microwaving some leftovers for lunch and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing a kiss into her hair. Since it was Wednesday and she was just staying at the apartment to work on homework all day, she had just let it air dry after taking her shower that morning and, as a result, it was a mess of curls.
> 
> “Why do you always straighten your hair?”
> 
> She swiveled around to face him, “Because I look approximately twelve years old like this.”
> 
> “No you don’t.” He tugged gently on a curl that had fallen in her face, “You look cute.”
> 
> The corners of her mouth turned down in a frown, “Exactly. Like a cute little twelve-year-old.”
> 
> “No…” he shook his head in amusement, lifting her up to sit her on the countertop and step in between her legs. “That was a bad choice of adjective, let me try again.” Running his fingers through her hair, his other hand resting on her thigh, he pressed a kiss to her cheek, “Gorgeous?” A kiss to her jawline, “Ravishing?” One above her eyebrow, “Resplendent?”
> 
> She snorted, “Okay _Mr. Thesaurus_.”
> 
> He shrugged, a grin on his face, “What? I like to read.”
> 
> “I know.” She returned his grin. “It’s really hot.”
> 
> One of her favorite sights was looking through the glass walls of her office to see Oliver sitting in the reception area with his suit jacket off and sleeves rolled up, a book in hand as he filled the time while she finished work for the day. The _Hot Dudes Reading_ Instagram account had nothing on what she got to see in person on the daily.  
> 
> “Mmm see there’s another more appropriate adjective I could have used instead of cute.” He shook his head solemnly, “My apologies.”
> 
> A blush spread across her cheeks and she smacked his chest lightly, “Stop.”
> 
> Framing her face with his hands, he captured her mouth with his own and she could feel a smile still lingering on his lips as he kissed her.
> 
> * * *
> 
>  

“Let’s go with the diffuser,” she answered the stylist.

When the stylist was finishing up, she checked her phone and tried to keep a stupid smile off her face at the message displayed on her screen.

**OLIVER: Resplendent *kiss emoji***

**FELICITY: Did you just use an emoji**

**FELICITY: I don’t think that’s appropriate for professional correspondence**

She looked up and saw Oliver trying to stifle a laugh as he tapped out a reply.

**OLIVER: Would it be professional for me to come over and give you a real kiss?**

“What’s making you smile like that?”

She nearly threw her phone across the salon at her mom’s voice.

“Nothing,” she fumbled, hitting the home button on her phone and dropping it in her lap. Her mom gave her a _“I’m not going to call you on your BS but just know I’m aware of it”_ look and she redirected the conversation as she got down from her chair, “You know, we should stop at Jitters next to get coffee and say hi to Iris since you haven’t gotten to meet her in person yet.”

“Sounds like a good idea. I was thinking we could do a later lunch at a place Daniel recommended, so we can get some of those cronuts you were telling me about at Jitters.”

“Oh yes. You need to try one of their cronuts. Life. Changing.”

They stepped outside and over to where Oliver was waiting with the car.

“And then we’ll have to do some shopping of course.”

_“Naturally.”_

Her mom took her hand, “I missed you honey.”

Squeezing her hand, she returned, “I missed you too.”

* * *

“Mom is getting settled in one of the guest rooms upstairs, so I think it’s safe to resume normal activity,” Felicity announced that evening upon returning to her floor of the townhouse after dinner downstairs with her Uncle following a long girls’ day out. Despite her initial disappointment that Oliver’s plans for the day would have to be postponed, she had loved getting to spend some time with her mom. Walking over to where Oliver was sitting at their kitchenette table, she rested her hands on his shoulders and was leaning in to kiss his cheek when his laptop screen caught her eye. “Hey what’s that—“

He quickly minimized whatever he was looking at and she bit her lip, debating on whether or not she should prod.

“It’s nothing. Just something I was looking into on a whim…”

She slid into the chair next to him, angling her body towards him and raising an inquisitorial eyebrow.

“I—“ He exhaled and clicked to reopen the window, displaying a webpage for an online degree program she remembered seeing an advertisement for a few days ago while they were watching tv. “It turns out that, despite spending most of my college experience doing idiotic things at frat parties, I did actually pass more classes than I thought.”

“It’s hard to picture young and wild Oliver.” She nudged his shoulder teasingly, “You’re too serious and responsible now.” She tilted her head, “Although this morning you were hiding in my closet from my mom so…”

He flashed her a sheepish look, “Yeah, not the first time I’ve been in a situation like that. In high school, Tommy and I were pretty much on the unofficial Starling City’s dads’ hit list.” Gesturing at his computer screen, he continued, “But anyway, regarding the whole college thing… I didn’t get to finish because of everything that happened with my family. And I was okay with that, because I didn’t care about it then. College was just something I felt pressure from my parents to do; I didn’t want it for myself.”

She reached for his hand and twined their fingers together, “But now you’re thinking you want to?”

“Yeah. I don’t need that many more credits, and I think it would feel good to not have something left unfinished. Plus my contract right now is only for the years that you’re in school—barring I don’t get fired before then for having already violated that contract—I’d kind of like to broaden my options for after you graduate and we move back to Starling. Not that I don’t love my job, but I don’t really see this as a permanent thing for me.” He looked at her shyly, “Do you think it’s a stupid idea?”

“No.” She shook her head, “No. I think it’s a great idea.” From the beginning she knew that their current arrangement was only going to be able to last so long. They were going to reach a point where, if he still wanted to be her boyfriend, she was going to want him to _just_ be her boyfriend, without the need for secrecy. Which was going to require a career change. She covered their interlocked hands with her other one, “I told you, I don’t want you to feel like your whole life here is your job. If this is something that you want to do, you should go for it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” she assured him. “Plus, it’ll give you something to do other than distract me while I’m studying.”

Smirking, he brushed back a few curls that had fallen into her face, “I’m still claiming innocence.”

**ONE WEEK LATER**

A scream ripped him from his peaceful sleep and he was instantly aware that the space next to him that she had been occupying in the night was empty. Panic bubbled up inside of him as he rolled off the bed and ran through the ajar door leading into the hallway… 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You made it! Sorry for that evil cliffhanger last week, I wanted to keep you guys in a bit of suspense... but your wait is over :) As always, thank you so much for all of your feedback (I still have a few comments from last week to reply to but I will get to them today :)) and enjoy the chapter!

Felicity blinked her eyes open sleepily. Her room was dimly lit with sunlight filtering in through the cracks in the blinds and she glanced over at the clock to see that it was almost nine. Oliver was still fast asleep beside her, which was surprising considering he was usually up at an ungodly hour of the morning during the week, dragging her out of bed too if it was a day she was joining him at the gym. Last night had been a late one though. They didn’t leave Smoak & Kuttler until nearly 11pm and then, by the time they had reheated dinner that her Uncle’s chef had made earlier and crashed in her bed for an hour of the Food Network, it was pushing 2am before she had fallen asleep curled up next to him. 

Carefully sliding out of bed to avoid disturbing him, she shivered at the loss of his body heat and grabbed his gray hoodie that was draped over her chair. Zipping it up, her small frame swallowed up by the soft fabric, she padded out into the main room to get a glass of water.    

As she was walking past the couch, someone jumped out from behind it, startling her and eliciting an alarmed shriek. Instinctively, she reached for a nearby lamp in self-defense and was about to swing for her attacker when she realized their identity.

Setting the lamp back down hastily, she flung her arms around her friend in a tight hug, her racing heart calming back down as the shock wore off. Over Sara’s shoulder she saw Oliver bolt out of her room in a frantic rush and flip on the lights, the panic on his face quickly receding when it became apparent to him that she wasn’t in danger. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked Sara when she released her. “In New York. But also specifically, in my home nearly giving me a heart attack.”

Sara began to laugh as she attempted an apology, “I—I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you that badly. But your face was priceless. And were you seriously going to take me out with a lamp?”

She heard Oliver cough to try and cover a laugh and she shot him a glare. Shaking his head in amusement, he retreated into his bedroom.  

“Your Uncle let me in downstairs,” Sara explained. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

“For a second I honestly thought I was going to be murdered.”

“You’re so dramatic.”

She threw her hands up defensively, “You’re basically a ninja assassin and you move like one.”

Sara grinned, “Fair point. That’s actually why I’m in New York. This week is the premiere for the show and there’s a con going on so a bunch of us are here doing a screening and other press stuff, including a panel with our head stunt coordinator, some of the other team members, and I.”  

“I thought we weren’t going to be able to see each other until holiday break? You never mentioned this…”

“Some of the final details were thrown together last minute so I didn’t know if I was going to be making the trip and I didn’t want to get either of our hopes up prematurely. And then I thought it would be fun to surprise you.”

“Yeah that seems to be the trend lately,” she muttered. “How long are you in the city? I have to work all day tomorrow and then I’m leaving for school in the evening.”

“I’ll be here until Thursday morning. I have no obligations today though,” Sara assured her. “We’re doing our panel on Tuesday. Then we’re having a party on Wednesday night to celebrate the premiere and we can bring guests, so I was sort of hoping....”

“Of course I’ll come.”

Sara arched an eyebrow, “Are you sure? I know that’s not really your thing.”

She shrugged, “I want to be there to support you. Plus, with events for work and then publicity stuff— I’m not as awkward as I once was at parties. At least I don’t think I am.”

Amusement lit up her face, “Okay. I’ll get you on the invite list.” 

“Sounds good. I’ll just have to come back and forth from Massachusetts an extra time this week but that’s no problem. So… you said you don’t have anything to do today, right?”

“Right. I was planning on spending the day with you, if that works?”

“Yeah,” she nodded enthusiastically. “Today’s my day off so we can do whatever.”

“Good.” There was a mischievous glint in Sara’s eye. “Let’s start with discussing the fact that you’re wearing Oliver’s sweatshirt.”

“I— wha—“ Belatedly she remembered her current attire.

“Oh my sweet Felicity,” Sara patted her shoulder. “Don’t think that that’s escaped my notice.”

She fiddled with the zipper, “I was going to tell you—about Oliver and I, I just wanted to wait and do it in person.”

“Well I’m here now.” Sara tugged her over to the couch to sit down. “So spill. Last time we talked you were determined to just forget about what had happened the night you almost kissed…”

“Yeah… You can’t tell anyone about this, okay? Promise?”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Okay, so at the baseball game it felt like there wasn’t that boundary between us that dictated how we were supposed to act around each other because of a job title. We were just… us. And it felt right. When we got home, I knew that I didn’t want things to go back to normal.” She shook her head, a bemused expression on her face, “I don’t know what came over me but I just… made a move.”

“Well it was about time some of your go-getter attitude transferred over into the relationship department,” Sara interjected and she laughed before continuing.

“So we kissed and—“ She sighed, “It was even better than I had imagined it would be. Not just the kiss— _kisses_ , but knowing that my feelings for him weren’t unrequited. But finally being honest with each other didn’t change the fact that we’re in a complicated situation.”

“So you decided to keep your relationship a secret.”

“Yeah… Is that crazy?”

“Felicity, I work in Hollywood. I’m well acquainted with the whole secret romance thing. You want to keep some of your personal life private to avoid a bunch of unwanted commentary on it, I get it.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, “Exactly. Thank you.”

“But keeping this from your family—”

“I know,” she interrupted her, knowing where she was going. “But right now, that’s how it has to be so Oliver doesn’t lose his job. _Please_ don’t tell anyone.”

Sara reaching for her hand, “Hey, I promised I wouldn’t. I just don’t want to see this blow up in your face. Keeping secrets from the people closest to us isn’t easy.”

“Believe me, I know. Mom was here last weekend and was very close to finding us out.”

“Well you’re not doing the best job at being sneaky if you’re wearing his clothes,” Sara teased.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be in my living room this morning,” she protested, crossing her arms and eliciting a laugh from Sara. “But I’m really, really happy that you are. It’s crazy to think that the last time we last saw each other was on my birthday. So much has happened since then.”

Sara’s face turned a little uncharacteristically shy then and she fiddled with a loose thread from a hole in her jeans, “Yeah… and you’re actually not the only one with news in the romance department.”

Her face lit up with excitement for her friend, “Oh?”

“Her name is Nyssa and she’s the double for one of the other leads. This isn’t her first industry job, so she helped me out a lot in the beginning when I was first learning the ropes of working on a set. And I guess from there it just… turned into something more than friendship.” Sara grinned, “She’s a total badass but she has a soft side too. She’s amazing.”  

Felicity returned her smile, “She sounds perfect for you then. Is she in New York? Am I going to get to meet her?”

“Yeah, definitely. If you’re feeling up for it, the hotel we’re staying at is serving brunch this morning…”

“I am always up for brunch.” They stood up from the couch to walk back to her bedroom so she could get dressed, stopping by Oliver’s bedroom door and peeking her head in. “Hey, we’re going to go over to Sara’s hotel for brunch.”

“Okay.” He nodded his head at Sara, “It’s good to see you Miss Lance.”

Sara rolled her eyes, “Oh Oliver. You’re involved romantically with my best friend so I think we really need to be on first name basis now.”

Oliver looked over at her with an arched eyebrow and she unzipped his sweatshirt, tossing it to him, “Yeah, she knows. Be ready in 20 minutes?”

(See Felicity's Brunch outfit [here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/866235438029303808))

* * *

Sara pointed at one of the tables in the hotel dining room, “There they are.”

Oliver took up his place by the entrance after she promised to get him some food to go and then she followed Sara over to where her friends were waiting for them.

“Felicity, this is Nyssa and Amaya,” Sara introduced them as they sat down at the open chairs, intertwining her fingers with Nyssa’s. “Nyssa and Amaya, Felicity.”

Nyssa gave her a reserved smile and Amaya turned towards her, “It’s nice to finally meet you Felicity. Sara has told us a lot about you.”

“All good things,” Sara assured her when she slid her eyes in her direction.

“Except for maybe the video where you thought you were a mermaid and you needed to get back to the ocean before you died,” Nyssa mentioned casually, a hint of amusement in her eyes.

“Wha—?“ Felicity glowered, “You showed them my wisdom teeth video?”

Sara blinked innocently. “It’s my wisdom teeth video too, and it’s hilarious. I still think we should post it to YouTube.”

She and Sara had gotten their wisdom teeth taken out on the same day the summer before this past one and Laurel had filmed them post op. But while Sara had been almost her normal self, albeit a little bit disoriented, the drugs had sent her straight into loopy-ville.

Shaking her head, she turned her attention to Amaya, “Are you on the stunt team too Amaya?”

“Yes. The three of us handle the stunt work for the leads.”

That made sense with what she remembered of the three characters who made up the team of assassins in the episode Sara had sent her. “Well if the other episodes are anything like the pilot, they definitely keep you busy.”

“There’s a few action and combat sequences in every episode. And the actresses are fantastic, but they’re…”

“Completely uncoordinated klutzes,” Nyssa offered dryly.

Amaya shot her a look but didn’t disagree, just confirmed, “They keep us busy.”

“In the episode we just wrapped there’s a scene where the girls zipline off of a roof while they’re being shot at,” Sara mentioned. “We had a lot of fun with that.”  

Amaya and Nyssa nodded in agreement and she patted Sara’s arm, “I’m so glad you’ve found people who share your definition of fun.”

A waitress came by then and took their orders, Felicity opting for blueberry pancakes, and they spent the meal sharing more stories from set. When they had finished eating, they decided to head out and do some shopping for Tuesday’s party.

“So…” Sara inquired when they were at Nordstrom and Nyssa and Amaya were both in dressing rooms.

“I like them.” She rifled through a rack of party dresses, looking for her size. “Have you told your dad about Nyssa yet?”

“No… but he and Laurel are coming down to see me for Thanksgiving, so I guess I’m making the introductions then.”

“I’m sure it will go well. Your dad has always just wanted you to be happy, and it’s obvious that she makes you happy.”

“Yeah… you’re right.” Sara bumped her hip against hers, “I could say the same for your parents.”   

She sighed, “I know… I just— This is different.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t think her parents would like Oliver, she knew they liked him, but as her bodyguard. As her bodyguard _and_ her boyfriend? That was something she wasn’t certain of. What if they, or John, made him resign from his position if he wanted to continue his unprofessional relationship with her? How was that supposed to work with the way her life was at the moment? They would be running into some of the same logistical problems that had made her realize there was no point in trying with Barry.

So, as much as she wanted to tell her family, she just couldn’t. Not yet.

Sara looked like she was going to say something more but she closed her mouth and turned her attention to another rack of clothes.

“What do you think of this?” Felicity asked, holding up a dark navy mini dress with brocade embroidery, sheer sleeves, and an open back.

(See the dress [here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/866235744108646400))

“I think Oliver is going to have a hard time staying in the corner of the room if you wear that.”

Smirking, she headed for the dressing room, tossing over her shoulder, “Well you know me, I’ve always enjoyed making his job difficult.”

* * *

“Argghh,” Felicity groaned when his phone alarm started going off at 4:30am. “Every single time I hear that alarm I ask myself why I agreed to this.”

Turning off his alarm, he rolled over to kiss her cheek, “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“No, no. I’m coming,” she replied groggily, slowly making her way into a seated position and rubbing her eyes before fumbling for her glasses on the nightstand. “I’m coming.”  

“I’m going to go get dressed.” He patted her thigh. “Meet you in the living room in ten minutes?”

She yawned, “Uh huh.”

Shaking his head in amusement, he wouldn’t be surprised if he found her fast asleep again in ten minutes, he crawled out of her bed and headed for his room. His bed was neatly made as it had been days since he last slept there with her insistence lately that he stay in her room and be her personal space heater now that it was getting colder. It didn’t matter how warm the house was kept or how many blankets she piled on, her feet were always as cold as ice and they sent a shock through him whenever she pressed them against his calf. Not that he minded. It was a small price to pay to get to wake up next to her.

When he walked out of his room a few minutes later, she was coming out of her room as well, dressed and ready to go.

“Oh don’t look so surprised, I told you I was coming.” She took his hand as they headed for the stairwell, “I wasn’t going to miss our gym date, especially since I feel bad we haven’t gotten to spend our last two Sundays together with all of my surprise guests showing up lately.”

“It’s okay.” He squeezed her hand. “You haven’t gotten to see people from home in a while, I would be happy too if my family and friends showed up randomly.”

As content as he was with his job and being with her, he missed Thea and Tommy. December still seemed so far away.

A thoughtful look passed over her face but she didn’t say anything in response.

When they got to the gym, he wrapped her hands and set her loose on one of the punching bags. She didn’t really need his instruction so much anymore, but “adjusting her form” was an opportunity to touch her in public that he wasn’t going to pass up. She didn’t have any complaints.

His hands were on her waist when he heard a familiar voice.

“Oliver?”

Dropping his hands, he turned and found himself face to face with his ex-girlfriend. There had been a time where he had been devastated by their break-up, but that seemed so far away now. The only thing he felt upon seeing her was relief that she was standing on her own two feet, since the last time he saw her she was in a hospital bed with a long road to recovery ahead of her, and surprise that she was in New York. He offered her a friendly smile, “McKenna. What are you doing here?”

“Here as in New York? I’m working for the NYPD now. After I finished physical therapy in Coast City I was ready for a change of scenery and this is where I ended up. Here as in this gym? I’m heading into a spinning class.” She waved her hand towards the entrance to the cycling studio. “Are you still teaching?”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Felicity give him a look that he knew meant she had a lot of questions running through her head. “Uh no, I’m actually working in private security as a bodyguard now. That’s why I’m in New York.” He gestured towards Felicity, “This is my uhh—“ _How to refer to her?_ “This is Felicity.”  

“Oh, that makes more sense.” He wasn’t sure what she meant by that but he didn’t dwell on the comment. Continuing, she added, “And that’s like the perfect job for you. I remember you were always so good with your little sister. Are you enjoying the city?”

He shrugged, “It’s not Starling, but I guess it’s alright.”

She laughed, “Yeah. Well, I should be headed in to the studio or someone is going to steal my favorite bike. Do you ever get any time off? Maybe we could grab drinks or something sometime…”

“No,” he shook his head. “I don’t think we should do that McKenna.” Even if he wasn’t with Felicity, he wasn’t interested in trying to open doors that should just stay shut. As good as things had once been with her, she had ended things quite definitively the last time they had spoken and their lives had gone in two different directions.  

Her face fell, “Oh. Right.”

“But it was good to see you, walking again.”

She nodded, “Thank you. Coast City for PT was definitely the right choice. I’m glad you’re doing well Oliver.” She gave him one last smile before turning to go.

Instead of having a flurry of questions like he expected, Felicity was quiet for the rest of the time that they were at the gym. He tried to engage her in conversation but her answers were short. She didn’t seem outright upset though, just thoughtful, and he wished he could figure out what was going through that mind of hers. 

Finally, when they were in the car on the way back to the townhouse, she piped up from the backseat, “So… you used to be a spinning instructor?”

He met her eyes in the rearview mirror, “I worked at a gym before I started my job with John at Spartan. And yes, one of the things I did there was teach spin classes.”

An amused expression passed across her face, “I would pay money to see that.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting that career any time soon.”

She pouted adorably but then it slid into a frown as she dropped her gaze to her lap, “She’s really pretty, your ex.”

“Felicity, I—“

“And she’s right, about us not making sense as a couple.”

Oh. So that’s what McKenna had been implying. At first she had thought that Felicity was his girlfriend, but it made more sense that she “wasn’t.”

“I mean, we can’t even tell anyone that we’re together,” she continued wryly before he could say anything. “So what does that say? And then I see someone like her, someone that you dated, and I just—“ She sighed, “I don’t know. She basically insinuated that it looks like I could be your little sister. Does it bother you that I’m as young as I am?”

He huffed in amusement, “Why are you asking that like I’m being forced to be with you or that I haven’t been aware of your age this whole time? I’m only seven years older than you, I’m not an old man.”

“Oliver, I’m serious.”

They were stuck in a standstill of traffic so he twisted around to look at her. “Hey,” his voice was gentle and she brought her eyes back up to meet his. “Eighteen-year-old me was an idiot and definitely not mature enough for a girlfriend who has her life together as much as you do. I needed the extra years to grow up a little.” She gave him a little smile at that and he turned his attention back to the road, adding, “And it doesn’t matter what she thinks, because she doesn’t know you. Doesn’t know that you’re kind, and funny, and brilliant, and easy to talk to, and a really good kisser.” He flicked his eyes up to the rearview mirror and saw her blushing. “I’m happy with you. Us being together makes sense to me.”

“Yeah. Me too,” she replied softly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get all weird and jealous. Also, I’m still a little hung up on the spin instructor thing. Are you sure you’re completely committed to never teaching a class again? Because I’m trying to envision this—“

“Maybe I’ll see if one of the instructors at my old gym is looking for a sub while we’re home in December and I’ll teach one more class,” he offered. “For you.”

“Yes!” she declared triumphantly.

* * *

Rifling through her lipsticks she found one of her favorite dark magenta shades that she thought would look best with her dress. Despite her reservations upon trying it on that it was maybe just a little too short, Sara had insisted that she was going to retract her invitation if she didn’t wear it.

_“You look amazing. You’re going to a party, not the office. Buy the dress.”_

When she remembered Oliver’s reaction to the romper she had worn to the Palmer Tech showroom opening, she was sold.

Lipstick applied and ponytail tightened, she gave herself one last cursory glance in the mirror before grabbing her heels and exiting her bedroom.

Any lingering self-doubts she had from her encounter with Oliver’s ex-girlfriend Monday morning, vanished at the look on his face when she walked out into the living room where he was on the couch waiting for her. His eyes dropped down to the expanse of bare leg that was exposed by the short hemline before coming up to meet hers, his tongue darting out to lick his lips.

He cleared his throat, and was presumably about to make a comment, but she spoke up first, “I need your help with some buttons on the back.” 

Nodding, he waved her over and she came to stand in front of him. Without her heels on, she was short enough for him to reach up and do the buttons without having to stand up. Which also put him at the perfect height to press a kiss to her spine before spinning her around.

“How long do we have to stay at this party?” he asked, looking up at her with an expression that for a second had her contemplating forgoing the event entirely. His hands were on her thighs, his thumbs slowly stroking her skin and making it feel like there was electricity humming through her veins. It was difficult to stand still.  

Threading her fingers through his hair, ruffling it, she stammered, “I—I don’t know.”

Relinquishing his grip on her legs and rising to his feet, he wrapped his arms around her waist loosely and gave her a lazy grin, “I’m just messing with you.” He kissed her cheek and whispered teasingly, his breath warm on her ear, “But I am a little mad at you for looking so beautiful when I have to keep my distance.”

She frowned, “I wish you didn’t.”

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “I know that’s how it has to be right now. Besides, I’m the lucky guy who gets to take you home at the end and kiss you goodnight.”

Her frown faded into a smile, “Yeah.”

Tipping her chin up, he was going in for a kiss when her phone started ringing from where she had set it on the counter. She rolled up on her toes to quickly brush her lips against his before untangling herself from him and hurrying to retrieve her phone.

“Are you on your way?” Sara asked when she picked up.

“Almost. We got a little… distracted on the way out the door.” She shrugged her shoulder up to hold her phone in place while she slipped on her heels and fastened the ankle straps.

“Color me not surprised. That’s why I called. Your name is on the guest list so you should have no problem getting in, but I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

 “Okay, sounds good. See you soon.”

When they got to the venue for the party, a place called The Foundry on Long Island, she thought she was going to be able to slip through the line of photographers waiting outside and taking pictures of cast members as they arrived. Wishful thinking. Thanks to her CatCo cover, she had become recognizable enough to be noticed even amongst the swarm of actors and actresses, and she was quickly ushered into the press line. Oliver kept a watchful eye over her and the crowd as camera flashes went off rapidly. At the end of the photographers, a few reporters inquired why she was in attendance and she gave them all the same explanation of being there to support her friend.

Her friend who waved her over excitedly when she finally made it into the venue, shouting over the music, “Felicity!”

Making her way over, she swept her eyes over the space, which had an industrial feel with concrete floors, brick walls and metal arches framing large skylights on the ceiling that displayed the night sky.

(You can check out pictures of the venue[ here](http://www.thefoundry.info/photos/))

“Why does this place look kind of familiar?” she asked Sara when she arrived at the table that she was standing around with Nyssa, Amaya, and two guys she recognized as actors on the show.

“They filmed part of the Gossip Girl pilot here!”

Ahh yes. Now she could picture it. Laurel had gotten them into Gossip Girl one summer, before she started working a lot at the company and actually had time to spend hours at the Lance house binging the entire thing with them in an embarrassingly short amount of time. It wasn’t her usual choice of television genre, but it was amusing to see people, with similar privileges as her, act so very differently from her. The tabloids of Starling probably wished she would have been a little more Serena or Blair-esque in high school so they didn’t have to make up scandalous gossip about her boring self.

Oh, if they only knew about her and Oliver. She didn’t even want to think about what stories they would spin if they discovered the extent of their relationship.

“Felicity, this is Jax and Nate,” Sara introduced her to the guys, bringing her out of her thoughts.

She shook both of their hands, “It’s nice to meet you.”  

“Wait, are you the one from the mermaid video?” Nate asked.

“Sara! How many people did you show that to?”

Sara gave her a sheepish look and then remarked to the guys, “Okay but she’s not just a mermaid, she’s also at MIT getting a double masters while helping run her family’s fortune 500 company. Basically the smartest person you’ll ever meet.”

Nate and Jax both looked impressed. “Well damn.”

Sara tossed her a wink and she smiled in appreciation.  

Honestly, she didn’t care that much though. The video _was_ admittedly hilarious. She made a mental note to show Oliver some time because she knew it would make him laugh.

After chatting with her friends for a while, Sara had introduced her to a bunch of other people she worked on the show with and, after some champagne, had even managed to convince her to dance a little. She drew the line at singing karaoke, but had gotten some laughs out of the overdramatic performances from some of the cast members. It had been a fun evening but she couldn’t help but spend some of it wishing that Oliver was at her side instead of at the perimeter of the room with some of the other attendees’ bodyguards. Sneaking around was fun at times, and she liked not having to deal with unwanted commentary on their relationship from the media, but she was a little jealous of the way that Sara and Nyssa had been holding hands and sharing kisses without having to worry about who was watching.

* * *

“Felicity?”

He didn’t get any response and when he turned to look in the backseat he saw that her silence was due to the fact that she was fast asleep. Smiling to himself, he parked the car and hopped out to open her door and unbuckle her. When he moved her a little to lift her out, she stirred, but quickly returned to her soft snoring as she relaxed in his arms. It had been a long day, with waking up in Massachusetts for her to attend all but her last class of the day before hopping on the helicopter to come back to the city for the party.

He carried her up to the back door of the townhouse and was trying to figure out the best way to unlock the door without dropping her when it swung open.

Daniel stepped aside to let them in. “I heard the car pull up and was going to ask her about the party but it looks like that will have to wait until tomorrow. Thanks for getting her home safe.”

He nodded, “Of course. That’s why I’m here.”

When he got upstairs she was still sleeping and he wasn’t sure if he should just lay her down in her bed or wake her up so she could change into her pajamas and be more comfortable.

She made the decision for him a second later when she blinked open her eyes and looked up at him sleepily, “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“You didn’t have to carry me in, you could’ve woken me up.”

“Might as well put all that time at the gym to use.”

She laughed and he carefully set her down on her feet. Yawning, she mumbled, “Today was a long day.”

“It was,” he affirmed. “Did you have fun at the party?”

“I did. Much more than the last party I attended with Sara, that’s for sure.”

His mind flashed back to the scene of her on the floor struggling to breathe and he held back a shudder. It was always his preference that his job be a little boring and uneventful than for something to go wrong.

She yawned widely again and he asked, “Do you want your bed to yourself tonight?”  

“What?” Shaking her head, she reached out for his tie to loosen it, “No… It’s too big and cold without you in it.”

He huffed in amusement as she grabbed his hands and, walking backwards, tugged him towards the hallway with their bedrooms, “What are you going to do when we’re home in December and you have to sleep alone?”

“Argh, don’t talk about that yet,” she grumbled. “We still have a month.”

“You’re right.” She paused outside their bedroom doors and he kissed her before reaching behind her to undo the buttons he had done up earlier. “I’m going to get changed and then I’ll be in.”

By the time he had changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, brushed his teeth, and exchanged a few texts with both Tommy and Thea, he opened her bedroom door to discover that she had already fallen back asleep again after getting ready for bed. Crawling onto the bed, he scooped her into his arms and settled them down comfortably. While it was sometimes hard for him to have to stay in the background of her life, when she was nestled against him like this, cold feet and all, he was completely content.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! Sorry this chapter is a day later than usual. As I mentioned on twitter, with HVFF going on yesterday I didn't want the update to get lost among the fandom chaos. I didn't get a chance to reply to everyone's comments on the last chapter but some of you were pretty accurate with your prediction for this chapter... ;) As always, I'd love to hear what you thought... Enjoy!

**November**

“I think the state of her ponytail is directly proportionate to her stress level.”

Oliver looked down at Charlotte who was standing next to him as they both peered into Felicity’s office through the glass wall. Neither of them had dared to venture in for hours.

“There’s less hair still in it than what’s fallen out, that can’t be good.”

Charlotte looked up at him with a frown, “She hasn’t eaten in hours.”

Felicity had been spending her first few hours of Thanksgiving break dealing with a cyber attack on a medical research lab that she had designed the system for. Since she had gotten the SOS earlier that afternoon, she hadn’t spoken a word to anyone and had been hunched over her desk, fingers flying across her keyboard and one of her red pens being chewed furiously. Her brow was furrowed, and every so often they would hear loud sounds of exasperation coming out of her office as she glowered at her computer screen. They had decided that it was in everyone’s best interest that they leave her alone after Charlotte’s last attempt a few hours ago to ask her if she needed anything had resulted in a glare and a finger pointing at the door.

But now it was almost 8pm and they were getting worried.

“Maybe we should get her Uncle?” Charlotte suggested. “She wouldn’t yell at him, would she?”

Eliza appeared on his other side and remarked apologetically, “He’s out having dinner with a prospective client… These guys—or girls, are seriously giving her a run for her money, aren’t they?”

Charlotte sighed, “It would appear so.”

“I’m sure she’s close to having it handled,” he contended. “No one stands a chance at besting her.”

Eliza and Charlotte murmured in agreement before Charlotte added, “She’s got to eat something though… or at least drink some coffee. I’m going in.”

Eliza wished them luck before heading back to Daniel’s office and he followed Charlotte into the office as she tentatively approached Felicity’s desk.

“As much as I love a good old fashioned hack off with someone who is actually capable of making it a challenge,” Felicity muttered when they were standing in front of her, not looking up at them. “I would appreciate slightly lower stakes than billions of dollars of research and highly sensitive medical records.”

“You can do this,” Charlotte assured her gently. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Coffee. Can you run to Jitters?”

“Of course.”

“Maybe something to eat too?” he asked.

She shook her head no, and he and Charlotte backed away to let her continue to work.

Charlotte reached for her bag to make the Jitters run, “Well, at least we got her to agree to coffee. That’s better than nothing, right?”

“I guess. I’ll stop her somewhere for food when we’re on our way home.” He glanced at the clock, “Whenever that is.”

* * *

Pushing her glasses on top of her head, she pressed her palms against her eyes and the headache that was forming there. She had the hackers temporarily at bay, but she was still struggling to lock them out of the system completely and she was getting increasingly frustrated with herself. She glanced over at her phone sitting on her desk and it was like she could hear it mocking her.

_“Just call him. You can’t handle this.”_

Tears started to well up in her eyes and she blinked them away, grabbing the phone and dialing.

“Dad?”

“Hi sweetheart. Is everything alright?”

“Uhh not really. So there’s been an attack on one of my clients systems and I’ve been fighting it for hours now and every time I think I’m close to shutting them out completely they find a new way to push back in and I don’t understand because I designed this system to be impenetrable but they’ve managed to get through almost all the firewalls and I don’t even know what to try anymore but if they get through to the information database—“

“Deep breath,” her dad interrupted her. “Take a deep breath.”

“I need your help,” she whispered after inhaling and exhaling slowly, blinking back more tears.

“No you don’t,” he assured her.

“What’s going on?” she could hear her mom in the background. “Did something happen to her?”

“Just a little challenge at work,” her dad replied. “Nothing she can’t handle.”

“Oh. Okay. See you tomorrow baby!” her mom yelled before she heard the sound of her heels clicking away.

Thanksgiving dinner. Tomorrow. She wasn’t even ready to think about that yet. One thing at a time.

“I can guarantee you’re smarter than whoever these hackers are. You’re just overthinking things because you’re getting tired and frustrated,” her dad continued. “Let’s talk through what you’ve already tried and see if that helps you figure something out.”

Suddenly she felt like she was a little girl again, sitting next to him as he worked and explained to her what he was doing, asking her questions occasionally to see what she was remembering. She took a sip of her coffee that Charlotte had brought in for her a few minutes ago and then started to describe to him what her plan of attack had been so far as he listened quietly.

“So then I—Wait. I know what I need to do!” Typing furiously, she said a quick goodbye before hanging up, “Thanks dad, see you tomorrow, love you, bye.”

It only took her a few minutes after that to lock the hackers out and fortify the defenses, making it impossible for them to make another attempt.

“Boom, drop the mic!” she proclaimed, standing up from her chair. “Metaphorically. Because I don’t have a real mic... And now I’m just talking to myself.”  

Oliver peeked his head into her office, “Was that a sound of triumph?”

“Yes. Finally.” She started to power down her computer, “Let’s get out of here.”

She was looking forward to spending one last night with him before they were going to have to put a serious lockdown on the coupley behaviour, even at home, with her parents staying at the townhouse for a few days. Her mom was way too observant and sneaky to risk anything, and she was pretty sure she was already suspicious of something going on after her last visit. The middle of Thanksgiving dinner was not her preferred moment for all of this to blow up in her face.

“So Charlotte, do you have plans for tomorrow?” she asked when she walked out into the reception area. “Will you get to see any of your family?”

“Uh no,” she shook her head. “It’s just me and my dad… and he’s in prison,” she added in a faint mutter before pasting on a cheery smile. “I’ll probably order some take-out and binge watch something on Netflix. Maybe even venture out to some of the Black Friday sales that start tomorrow night if I’m feeling crazy. Just enjoy having a day off, you know?”

“Well if you want, you could join us for dinner,” she offered.

Charlotte paused the packing up of her things. “Oh I wouldn’t want to intrude…”

“You wouldn’t be,” she assured her. “There’s plenty of room at the table.”   

“And I’ll be there,” Eliza piped up from the hallway as she was walking out for the night. “It was a pretty easy decision when Daniel invited me. There was no way I was flying all the way out to Wyoming for 24 hours just to eat some dry turkey and listen to my extended family yell at each other over the local politics and who their children are dating.”

Charlotte still looked a little hesitant but she gave her an encouraging smile and she finally consented, “Okay. I’ll come. Uhh… thank you.”

“Great! You’re welcome. You know the address, right?”

Charlotte nodded, “Yeah. Do I umm… do I need to bring anything? Because I can’t cook, like really can’t cook.”

“Oh no don’t worry, us Smoak’s cannot cook to save our lives. My Uncle’s chef is making the whole meal. Just come prepared to eat. I think dinner is supposed to be served at 6:30, but I’ll text you when I know for sure.”

* * *

“Well that was exhausting.” She rolled her shoulders back, groaning softly. On the way back from the office they had stopped for burgers and fries at a place that she had declared made her homesick for Big Belly Burger. Now home for the night, he half expected her to collapse right into her bed in her work clothes. It was perfect timing for a few days off due to the holiday because he could tell she was drained. “I think I’m going to take a quick shower, try and loosen up these muscles a little.”

“You want me to help?” She raised her eyebrows and he hastily clarified. “Not in the shower. Just… I can rub your back and shoulders.”

She sighed, “That sounds heavenly, but you know that relaxes me so much it puts me to sleep and it’s too early for me to pass out on you. So maybe a little later?”

He nodded and she headed for her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

After he had changed out of his suit into sweats, he could still hear the water in her shower running so he grabbed his book and made himself comfortable on the couch to wait for her to finish.

A few minutes later he heard her step out into the living room, “Oliver?”

“Mhmm?” he twisted around to look at her and his mouth went dry at the sight of her in her robe, hair wet and cheeks flushed from her warm shower.

She took a few more steps forward and he tried to just keep his eyes on her face because the thin fabric of her robe wasn’t leaving much to the imagination.

“Can you go downstairs and see if there’s any ice cream in the main kitchen?”

It took a second for his brain to register that she had asked a question.

“Yes. Of course.” Good. He needed to get out of here before he ripped that robe right off her. Ran his hands along the soft curves underneath and kissed every inch of her skin.

He understood and respected that she wasn’t ready for that sort of intimacy yet, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a serious test of his self-control sometimes. Hopping up from the couch, he made a beeline for the stairs to search for her requested ice cream, hoping the whole time that she would be dressed when he got back.

Thankfully, when he returned with a pint of mint chip that he had successfully recovered from her Uncle’s stash, she was in her pajamas and curled up on the couch with his book in her hand.

“Robinson Crusoe?” she asked when he walked over to their kitchenette to grab spoons.

“I’m on a classics kick right now.” He settled in next to her and handed her a spoon before taking the lid off the ice cream, tilting it in her direction so she could get a bite.

“Thank you…” She snuggled in closer to him. “Sorry I was mean today.”

“You weren’t mean. You were focused.”

“I guess that’s one way of putting it.” She scooped out another bite of ice cream, a soft moan escaping her, “Have I ever mentioned how much I love mint chip ice cream?”

“Actions speak louder than words,” he teased.

“Yeah okay, see we’ve got to discuss that.” She took the ice cream out of his hand and set it on the coffee table.

“Discuss what?”

She tapped his knee, “With my parents in town for the next couple of days, there’s a few things that are going to have to be off limits.” Holding up her fingers she listed off, “Covert hand holding. Smiling in my direction. Hu—”

“Uh… I think I smiled at you before we were dating.”

Or whatever they were doing.

She tilted her head, “You’re right. Okay smiling is still on the table. But we’ve got to be careful. My mom is going to go all Nancy Drew if she suspects something is going on and we narrowly avoided getting found out on her last visit. As much as it pains me, we’re going to have to sleep in our own beds just to be safe.”

“Felicity… doesn’t this sound a little crazy to you? Maybe now is the perfect opportunity to talk to your parents about what’s going on with us…. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Her eyes widened, “ _What’s the worst that could happen?_ Oliver, they could fire you, that would be the worst thing. You said it yourself that you’re violating your contract by having this kind of relationship with me. So then what? Then some new guy comes to take your job and we never see each other?”

Basically, yes.

“I mean, let’s be honest. The only reason this—“ She pointed between the two of them, “Is even a thing, is because it’s your job to hang out with me 24/7.”

Her words felt like a ton of bricks colliding with him and he stiffened, “Wait what?”

She winced, “Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to sound like I’m only into you because you’re the only guy I have time to hang out with. That’s definitely not where I was going with that.”

But the thought had crossed his mind a time or two. He knew he was the first person she had ever been in a relationship with, and at eighteen she was probably not even close to thinking about settling down with someone. It was certainly possible that when her life became slightly less hectic she would want to date other people.

He just didn’t like to think about that though, because he had dated enough to know that what he had with her was better than anything he had before and something that he wanted to last.

Well… except for the whole part where no one knew about them being together. That wasn’t exactly the best foundation for a long-term relationship.

“Felicity—“

“What I was trying to say,” she interrupted him. “Is that I’m really lucky that, no matter how chaotic my life gets, I’m never lonely, because you’re a part of all of it. And just the thought of losing you—“

Tears started to stream down her cheeks and he brushed them away, “Hey. You’re not going to lose me, okay? I’m not going anywhere.” She gave him a little smile and he kissed her forehead. “We’ll tell everyone when the time is right.”

“I feel like that’s going to be when we’re home in December,” she mused. “That way we don’t have to stress about sneaking around, and, if it doesn’t go well, we have time to straighten things out before we’re stuck on opposite sides of the country.”

He nodded, “I think that’s a smart plan.”

“Well…” She shrugged with a teasing smile, “I am a genius so…”

Grinning at her, he leaned in for a kiss before standing up and taking her with him. A little “yelp” escaped her at the sudden movement but she wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked them back towards her bedroom.

“Mmm if we leave the ice cream carton sitting out overnight it’s going to be completely melted—” she started to point out in between kisses.

He nipped at her bottom lip. “Are you seriously still thinking about the ice cream?”

“I—“ She shook her head, “Nope.”

Chuckling softly, he made it to the edge of her bed and settled her down comfortably.

“Can I cash in on that back rub now?” she asked a little sleepily, looking up at him with her hair fanned out on her pillow and the skin around her mouth a little pink from beard burn. Hopefully that would be no longer noticeable in the morning. He made a mental note to shave.

Nodding at her request, he motioned for her to turn around onto her stomach and she obliged. He started on her shoulders, working on the spots where he knew she got bad knots from a day of being hunched over her desk. From there he started to move south where a bow was tying the back of her sweatshirt together.

{See Felicity's sweatshirt [here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/868956220153098240)}

Quickly untying it, he pressed a few kisses to her bare skin along her spine, leaving a trail of goosebumps, before continuing to massage her muscles.

“You’re amazing,” she heard her mumble into her pillow. Turning her head so he could hear her better, she joked, “You know, if you do get fired, you could always consider a career as a masseuse.”

He shook his head in faux annoyance and she scrunched up her nose at him adorably before sighing as he hit a particularly tight spot.

“I think you need to get a better desk chair,” he commented a few minutes later, only to receive a soft snore in response. Leaning down, he confirmed that she was indeed fast asleep. “Well, she did warn you that this would happen,” he muttered to himself in amusement.

* * *

“Okay… one last kiss, and then we really have to get ready to go to the airport.” She rolled on top of him and kissed him soundly before patting his chest and crawling off her bed. “We don’t want to be late!”

Since she had fallen asleep on him rather early, they had lingered in bed for a while that morning, getting in some last moments of alone time before they would be spending the entire day celebrating the holiday with her family and various other guests. Her parents’ jet was scheduled to arrive in a little less than two hours and they were supposed to be at the airport when they landed… which, especially with roads closed off for the parade, wasn’t going to happen if they didn’t get moving.

Twenty-six minutes later she had her hair and makeup done and was throwing on one of her favorite Burberry trenches over her jeans and sweater. Oliver handed her a travel thermos of coffee and she thanked him with a kiss on his freshly shaved cheek before reaching up to rub away the pink mark her lipstick left.

Thankfully, despite traffic that was just as atrocious as she predicted, they made it onto the tarmac in time to watch as the jet touched down onto the runway.

Her parents were the first to step off the jet, her mom rushing down the stairs to run over to her like it had been years since her last visit instead of just a few weeks. Stealing a glance over at Oliver while her mom was crushing her in a hug, she caught the moment he saw the passengers who emerged from the jet next.

* * *

His eyes widened in shock when he saw his sister step out, her hair blowing in the wind as she held her coat tightly around herself and made her way down the steps onto the ground, followed by Tommy who tossed him a grin. It was hard to stand still and maintain his professional composure when all he wanted to do was run to them. He hadn’t been expecting them at all and his heart swelled at the thought of Felicity coordinating such a surprise for him. A quick look in her direction and she gave him a little smile before focusing her attention on her parents.

“Ollie!” Thea waved, hurrying across the pavement to where he was standing. His arms were outstretched to receive her in a hug as soon as she reached him and he kissed the top of her head.   

“You got on a plane,” he remarked in disbelief.

She pulled back to look at him, “I got on a plane! Felicity managed to convince me to face my fear so I could come visit, and Tommy and Donna distracted me the whole flight so I didn’t have time to think about stuff too much.”

Tears threatened to well up in his eyes. He knew he had missed her, but seeing her standing in front of him, he hadn’t realized quite how much. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too. I missed you.” She stepped aside so that he could give Tommy a hug.

“It’s good to see you man.”

Tommy glanced over at where Felicity was standing, “Yes well, I couldn’t miss an opportunity to woo that lovely lady you work for. I know you think I’m not her type, but I could sense some chemistry on the phone when she was inviting me out here. I’m telling you, she’s going to be into me.”

“Mmm something tells me she’s not,” he muttered under his breath. “I’ll try not to be offended that you’re not here for me.”  

Tommy grinned and clapped him on the shoulder, “I’m just messing you with you. But she is hot and I’m definitely going to flirt with her….” He started to walk over to Felicity and Oliver followed behind, shaking his head at his friend’s antics as he laid on the charm and greeted her with a kiss on the hand.

_December._

It was only a little over a week away. Although Felicity had told Sara, so she probably wouldn’t mind if he told Tommy now…

Felicity just gave Tommy a hesitant smile before taking a small step back and turning to Thea to give her a hug, leaving Tommy looking a little confused by her brush off.

…Or he could be entertained by watching his friend struggle to understand why his usual foolproof techniques for attracting the interest of girls were unsuccessful with her.

Back at the townhouse, he shot Felicity a quick text.

**OLIVER: thank you *heart emoji***

**FELICITY: back at again with the emojis**

**FELICITY: please keep it professional sir**

He caught her eye from across the room and she gave him a teasing smile, with one of her winks that always ended up as more of an awkward blink.

**FELICITY: you’re welcome**

**FELICITY: you always look out for me**

**FELICITY: I wanted to do something for you**

**FELICITY: *heart emoji***

Looking up at her again, he gave her a smile that he hoped conveyed even better than a text how grateful he was.

* * *

“Ollie… he seems different,” Thea remarked as they were standing side by side in front of the mirror in her bathroom getting ready for dinner that evening.

The hours since they had picked everyone up from the airport had been spent first by giving a tour of the townhouse, and then she and Oliver had caught up with their families on everything since September that hadn’t made it into phone calls. Everything except for _the_ thing that hadn’t made it into a phone call, obviously.

“Uhh—“

“Good different,” she clarified. “More relaxed.”

“Well, it’s been months and no one has tried to kidnap me yet like everyone was so worried about. That probably helps.”

“Yeah… but I feel like it’s more than that.” She shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m just glad he’s happy. He deserves to be.”  

Her reflection gave Thea a little smile before she leaned in to touch up her eyeshadow. When she was finished with refreshing her hair and makeup she slipped into her dress. It was a simple navy blue, sleeveless A-line, with a cut-out on the chest, and she paired it with one of her favorite nude heels.

{See Felicity's outfit [here (#3)](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/866624829381910529)}

Thea nodded approvingly when she stepped out of the closet, “Nice. You’re going to torture poor Tommy. He’s been befuddled as to why you’ve been deflecting his attempts to flirt all afternoon.”

“Oh.” She started to walk towards her door. “Well he’s handsome, and nice, and it’s really awesome that he’s going to be a doctor, he’s just—“

“Not Oliver,” Thea interjected casually from behind her and she froze.  

“I—“ Pivoting on her heel to look back at her, she fumbled for words.

Thea gave her a mischievous smile at her inability to form a denial, “Thank you for the confirmation. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I’m glad that the feelings are mutual, because you should hear the way he goes on about you when we’re talking on the phone. I don’t know how he thinks he’s not being obvious, but I’ve avoided calling him out on it. I know he’ll tell me when he’s ready. Although seriously, how have you managed to keep him from broadcasting to the whole world how in love with you he is?”

Her cheeks flushed and she felt like her heart was going to leave her chest.  

“In… in love with me?” she whispered.

They hadn’t said anything about love yet.

Thea patted her on the shoulder, “From what I can tell, head over heels.”

Giving her a nervous smile, she was relieved when her phone buzzed with a text from her Uncle calling them downstairs because Charlotte had arrived and she could put her mind off the slightly terrifying concept of being in love.

Downstairs, she intercepted her assistant at the door and led her into the living room where they first encountered her father.

“Dad, this is my assistant Charlotte,” she introduced them and a weird look passed over his face. “Dad?”

He blinked, “Oh sorry. You just---uh you, you remind me of someone I knew a long time ago. A funny coincidence.” Shaking her hand, he added, “It’s nice to meet you Charlotte. I know Felicity is very grateful for everything you do for her.”

“Just doing my job Mr. Kuttler.”

Her dad walked away to go talk to her Uncle and she furrowed her brow at his strange reaction before shrugging it off. Introducing Charlotte to the rest of the people gathered in the living room who didn’t already know her, it wasn’t long before the chef was coming out to announce that the meal was ready to be served.

* * *

“So then, Felicity tells me that she’s running away to be an astronaut, and that I can’t stop her,” her mom recounted as they dug into pumpkin pie, all of them too full for dessert but unable to resist. It was inevitable that at least one embarrassing story from her childhood was going to come up before the meal was over. “I think she made it to the end of the driveway before turning around and coming back.”

Felicity pointed her fork at her, “Only because I made the mistake of telling the mailman what I was up to and he crushed my dreams by informing me that I couldn’t be an astronaut because I wore glasses.”

There was a ripple of laughter around the table and she blushed.

“Well, I for one, am glad that you decided to stay on earth with us Felicity,” her Uncle commented.

She dipped her head, “Thanks. Eight-year-old me was pretty mad, but it was for the best.”

“I tried to run away from home multiple times when I was little,” Eliza spoke up. “I was not cut out for farm life in _Middle-of-nowhere_ , Wyoming. Problem was our driveway was a three mile long dirt path, so just getting to the end of that with my wagon full of “essentials” was a bit of a challenge.”

The conversation then shifted to stories from other people’s childhood and she was relieved to not be the center of attention any longer. It gave her mind a chance to wander though and she found herself replaying Thea’s words over and over again.

_Broadcasting to the whole world how in love with you he is. How in love with you he is. In love with you._

She had never been in love with anyone before and, as far as she knew, no one had ever been in love with her. It seemed amazing and terrifying all at the same time, especially with the real possibility that things might not be able to work out for her and Oliver the way they were hoping. It would be so much harder to lose him if she was in love with him.

_Are you in love with him?_

“So Felicity, you up for joining Thea and I for a little Black Friday shopping in the big city?”

Her mom’s voice broke her out of her thoughts. “What?”

“Black Friday shopping? You in?” Thea echoed.

“Oh… no I’m more of a Cyber Monday girl. Besides, I don’t think Oliver is going to have to want to have to try to keep track of me in a stampede of crazy shoppers.”  She twisted in her chair to look at her parents’ security detail who was eating out in the living room, “Good luck to you.”

Their faces remained impassive as they acknowledged her with a nod and returned their attention to their plates. She was reminded of why she was glad she had Oliver and not one of those boring, super committed to professionalism, guys as her 24/7 shadow.

“Fair enough. But we’ll miss you.” She addressed Thea, “We need to head out around 10:30 because I’m sure traffic will be crazy and I’ve come up with a perfectly timed strategy for the best deals.”

“Mom, you do remember that our family’s net worth is in the billions? You can literally afford just about anything you could possibly want to but, at its full price.”

“Of course. But that doesn’t mean it’s not still fun to participate in one of the great holiday traditions in this country.”

She restrained herself from rolling her eyes and just told them to have fun. “Don’t let my mother get too out of control, okay?”

Thea nodded, “Don’t worry. Donna and I will be perfectly fine.”

_Oh boy._

Maybe this could end up being a good thing. If Thea and her mom bonded a little bit, that could subsequently help the news of her and Oliver’s relationship to go over well.

_Right?_

After everyone dispersed from the table, Charlotte and Eliza leaving for the evening after thanking them all for letting them crash family dinner, and Thea and her mom had taken off for their shopping adventure, she found herself in the living room listening to her father and her uncle discuss revenues. Or something like that pertaining to the company, that she probably should pay attention to…

_But seriously guys? It’s a holiday._

And besides that, she was too distracted by Oliver. He was talking to Tommy on the other side of the room and he looked so happy. Coordinating the surprise had been a bit of a challenge, she had had to come up with a cover story for why she needed Thea’s number from Oliver and she was not good with cover stories, but it had been worth it to see the look on his face when he saw his friend and sister that morning.

_Am I in love with him?_

He caught her watching him and she dropped her gaze to her lap quickly before anyone else noticed her staring. A second later her phone was buzzing with a text.

**OLIVER: you okay?**

**FELICITY: yeah**

**OLIVER: sure?**

**OLIVER: you’ve got the crinkle**

She reached up to touch her forehead, finding her brow furrowed.

**FELICITY: just thinking about stuff**

Like the fact that she could picture herself telling him that she loved him. That it felt right to imagine herself saying those words, because she knew she felt them.   

**OLIVER: stuff you want to talk about?**

**FELICITY: yeah. later. focus on your friend before he starts feeling ignored ;)**

* * *

She was washing her face when he peeked his head into her open bathroom door. “Is this later?”

Nodding, she pressed her towel to her face to dry it off before walking over to him and ushering him towards her bed. She sat on the edge and patted the space next to her for him to join her. A serious, contemplative look was on her face and she didn’t quite meet his eyes when he sat down, angling his body in towards her to look at her.

“So… what’s up?” He was suddenly nervous about what she had to say. His fear from the night before, that she might realize that she only thought she had feelings for him because being with him was convenient, started to creep back in. Even though he know it was an irrational one considering what she had assured him.

“Umm, well…” she fiddled with her too long sweatshirt sleeves. “Thea said something today that got me thinking and…“ He waited quietly, no idea where she was going with this. “And I love you,” she finally blurted out, looking up at him. “I wanted you to know that,” she added softly with a shy smile.

That was... not what he was expecting.

Warmth filled his chest and he reached a hand out to cup her cheek, stroking her flushed skin with his thumb. “I love you too.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, “Yeah.” He leaned in for a kiss, feeling her smile against his mouth before she opened to him, her tongue tasting a little like whipped cream from dessert earlier. Remembering what her admission had begun with, he asked when they broke apart, “Wait, so what did my sister say to you?”

She bit her lip, “Apparently you weren’t doing a very good job of keeping your feelings about me under wraps when you were talking to her…”

“So she knows?”

“Yep. Cornered me into confessing before dinner.” Shrugging, she added, “She didn’t seem appalled.”

No, his sister was probably thrilled. Especially seeing as she adored Felicity and was becoming enamored with her mother.

He sighed, “Well, I guess that’s one less family member whose reaction we have to wonder about.”

“Mhmm, but if we want to avoid increasing that number,” she pressed on his chest gently. “You gotta go.”

“Right….” Before standing up, he gave her one last quick kiss. “Goodnight Felicity.”

“Goodnight.” He was almost to the door when she added, “Love you.”

“Love you,” he echoed.  


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for your feedback on the last chapter. I loved reading your speculation and it makes me happy to know that y'all are enjoying this story so much :) Enjoy this week's chapter!

**December**

“Thanks again for doing this,” Anna remarked appreciatively as they walked down the hallway.

Felicity glanced over at her, “Of course. I’m glad it happened to be on the one day this week I’m not insanely busy.”

Anna had approached her a few days ago about coming in and speaking at her school’s career day after one of the people they had originally planned on had cancelled last minute. Even with finals rapidly approaching and a lot going on at work, she had been pleasantly surprised that she had an opening in her schedule and could say yes to her.

Besides, she was supposed to talk about why women were an important part of the future of STEM fields, so it hadn’t taken her long to compile some notes on what she wanted to say on a topic she felt passionate about.

She was a little nervous about speaking to an audience of high-schoolers, she was barely older than them after all, but Anna assured her that they would appreciate hearing from someone who had been in their shoes not that long ago. Looking down at her Louboutins she had added, _“Probably not literally though.”_

{See Felicity's outfit [here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/871009424588103680)}

Anna introduced her to the principal and a few other faculty members who were milling about when they stopped in the front office to pick up her guest pass. The receptionist recognized her from her CatCo cover and mentioned that her twin daughters were huge fans.

“They’re currently saving their allowances to build a computer together,” she shared. “They’ll be so jealous when I tell them I got to meet you today… do you think maybe you could sign something for them?” She started scrounging around on her desk for a piece of paper and then paused, “Oh what am I thinking? You’re probably in a rush. Don’t worry about it.”

“No, no it’s fine,” she assured her.

“Thank you.” She handed over a pad of paper and a pen. “You’re going to earn me some serious mom points.”

She smiled at her, “What are their names?”

“Abby and Amelia.”

Nodding, she scrawled out _‘Abby and Amelia, Good luck with your computer!’_ before signing her name. After she handed it to the receptionist and she got her guest pass in exchange, Anna ushered her down to the auditorium where she would be speaking to the female students.  

Her eyes widened when she peeked out from behind the stage and saw the rows and rows of seats filling up.

“Oh wow.”

“Are you nervous?” Oliver asked.

“A little. But mostly because I’m talking about something that’s really important to me and I want to make sure I communicate it well.” 

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he assured her, “You will.”

“Welcome ladies, to our annual career day. It is my pleasure to introduce our first speaker to you this morning—“ She turned as the principal’s voice came over the mic. Squaring her shoulders and smoothing out non-existent wrinkles in her dress, she prepared to walk out onto the stage.

* * *

“So… what did you think?” she asked Oliver when she made it backstage after giving her talk. It seemed to have been received well. There were obviously the people who had an expression on their face that read, _“I’m being forced to be here but I can’t be forced to care,”_ but there were also people she noticed who what she was saying really seemed to connect with them.

“I thought you were amazing,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “but I’m also a little biased.”

She smiled, starting to reach out for him before her brain caught up with what she was going and where they were, and she dropped her hand.

When they got out to the hallway outside the auditorium, Anna came up to them, “Felicity that was great. Thank you so much, again, for doing this last minute.”

“You’re welcome, thank _you_ for thinking of me to fill the opening.”

Her attention was then caught by a group of girls who were whispering loudly nearby. _“Just do it.” “No, I’m too shy.” “She’s looking at us…”_

Finally, one stepped forward timidly and the other two fell in behind her. “Uh… Felicity… I was just wondering if I could ask you something?”

“Of course. What’s your name?”

“Sarah.”

She grinned, “That’s my best friend’s name.”

“I know.” Sarah blushed, “I’m not like a stalker or anything, I just follow you on Instagram. You have pictures of her… umm, anyway, so I was just wondering, how have you dealt with people in your life doubting you?”  

“People in general or—?”

“I want to go to school for mechanical engineering, but my boyfriend says that I’ll never be taken seriously in that field.” She shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess because I’m a girl and blonde and 5’ 1” and that’s not exactly your stereotypical engineer.”

“And because he’s a jerk,” one of her friends muttered.

“But I’m really good at building stuff,” Sarah continued. “And I know it’s what I want to do; I just don’t know how to make him believe in me.”

“And his opinion really matters to you?”

“Well yeah, I love him.”

_Oh boy._

“Okay, so normally my advice for dealing with people who doubt your abilities, for whatever reason, is to just work really hard to be the best at what you do. If they still don’t want to take you seriously just because you’re a girl, then that’s on them, not you, and they’re only hurting themselves by not wanting to work with the best.” Sarah nodded in understanding and she continued tentatively, “But can I also just say, regarding your boyfriend… you shouldn’t have to make him believe in you.” Out of the corner of her eye she could see Oliver where he was monitoring the hallway and she smiled. “Trust me, you deserve to fall in love with someone who thinks you’re amazing, and supports you in whatever you want to do. Without needing to be convinced.”

Sarah looked thoughtful. “Yeah…”

“I’m not saying you should break up with him if you really do love him, but it feels good knowing that the person who’s that important to you, has your back.” She shrugged, “Just my two cents. It was nice meeting you Sarah.”

“Nice meeting you too! And thank you, for the advice.” She started rummaging through her bag, “Before you go, do you think we could take a picture?”

* * *

“For me?”

When they walked back into the office after being at the school they found Charlotte talking to a flower courier, surprise in her voice.

“Yes, those are for you,” Felicity explained as she approached them. “Happy Birthday!”

A look of confusion passed over Charlotte’s face but she took the bouquet of flowers and set them on her desk.

“I mean, I know _today_ isn’t your birthday,” Felicity continued, talking with her hands. “But I won’t see you on Friday since I’m heading home for the holidays, so I figured I should acknowledge it earlier.” Charlotte was going to be staying in New York, keeping things organized, so she could work remotely from home while she was on break from school. She clapped her hands together, “Ooh and I ordered cake. It’s coming later. You do like cake, right?”

“I—umm…” Charlotte averted her eyes, looking down at her desk. “Uh yeah, I like cake.” 

She put a hand on her forearm, “I’m sorry. Did I overstep? I know some people aren’t big on celebrating their birthdays. I just wanted—“

Shaking her head, Charlotte interrupted her, “No, no, it’s fine. You just umm… caught me off guard.” She gave her a small smile, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome! You can be thankful that I am not as over the top as my mother, or else I would have gotten you a birthday crown to wear too. And filled your entire office with balloons. She did that one year for me.”

A look of amusement passed over her face before she moved to sit down at her desk, “I appreciate your restraint.”

“Did I hear someone say cake?” Eliza asked, peeking her head in from the hallway.

Felicity laughed, “Yes. For Charlotte’s birthday. Would you like us to notify you when it arrives?”

“Obviously, yes. What kind of question is that? Your uncle and I are going out for a late lunch to prep for a big meeting he has tomorrow, but I will save some room for dessert.”

When Eliza disappeared again into the hallway, she walked into her office to finish up the last few things she needed to do before they left for Massachusetts in a few hours. Her phone buzzed with a text from Iris.

**IRIS: At the airport waiting for my flight to CC. Good luck on your exams!!**

**FELICITY: Thank you!! Have a good break :)**

And then one from Sara…

**SARA: ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT UNTIL WE’RE REUNITED YAASSS *heart emojis***

**SARA: wait how are you and oliver going to keep things a secret while you’re living at home???**

**FELICITY: we’re not**

**SARA: oh??**

Before she could type a response, her phone was ringing with a call from Sara.

She picked it up, “Yes, we decided to tell them.”

“Good! Okay, so you know what you should do? Drop the bomb right in the middle of your mom’s annual holiday party. Clink your glass and be like, _‘hello everyone, we would just like to announce that we’re banging.’_ It’ll be dramatic, like right out of a movie, and they can’t yell at you in front of all those people.”

“Okay first of all,” she dropped her voice to a whisper, “We haven’t slept together yet. I mean we have, but not like that. And second of all, that is pretty much the exact opposite of how I was thinking we should tell them. I was thinking more of a private family meeting.”

“Yeah… that’s probably a better idea. I think I’ve been in the land of television for too long.”

Standing up from her desk, she slipped out of her heels and started to walk around her office, “I am so behind on your show, we’re going to have to binge when I’m home.”

“Yes we will, but don’t change the subject. We’re still on you and Oliver. Can I be at this meeting? I’m basically family, and I’ll back you up.”

“As long as you promise to not use the word ‘banging’ in front of my parents, then yes, you may be present for moral support and back up.”

Sara laughed, “Okay. I promise.”

Charlotte tapped on the glass wall separating their offices and held up a file that she had been waiting on from Palmer Tech. “Hey, I’ve got to get some work done, but I’ll talk to you later, okay? Love you….”

“Love you too, see you soon.”

* * *

“Don’t you think maybe you’ve studied enough by now?” Oliver asked, walking into the living room in their Massachusetts apartment that night and finding Felicity sitting on the floor surrounded by piles of notes and index cards. When she glanced up at him, she looked a little frazzled with her glasses slightly askew and her ponytail a mess.

_Huh. Charlotte was definitely right about the ponytail thing._

One look at her and he knew she was stressed.

“Not possible,” she muttered, returning her focus to her laptop.

He crouched down to her level, “Felicity, why are you so worried about these exams?”

“It’s important that I do well on them so that the administration will permit me to continue my accelerated degree program,” she replied, not bothering to look up at him as her eyes continued to scan her screen.

“Okay… but you’ve been doing amazing in your classes all semester, while simultaneously working a very demanding full time job might I add, I don’t think you’re going to have any trouble with these finals.”

She looked up at him thoughtfully before consenting, “I guess you’re probably right.”

“I think I am definitely right.” Grabbing the stack of index cards closest to him, he quizzed her on the top few questions she had written out. She answered them all correctly without hesitation. “Do you want me to keep going?”

She shook her head and grumbled, “No. You’ve made your point.” When he stood up, he held out a hand to help her up and she accepted it. “Is it seriously 1am?” she asked, her voice surprised, as she squinted at the clock beyond them in the kitchen.

“Yep.”

“I’m sorry. Today was a long day, I can’t believe it was just this morning I was speaking at the high school. You didn’t have to stay up with me.” She kept a hold of his hand as they walked towards her bedroom. “You didn’t have to stay up with me.”

“If I had gone to bed, I might have woken up the next morning to find you still in that spot on the floor, completely unaware an entire night had passed.”

She yawned. “I don’t know, I think I would have passed out eventually. But then I would’ve been grumpy from sleeping on the floor.”

In her room, he settled into her bed while she was brushing her teeth and washing her face. When she walked out of the bathroom she was wearing one of his Henley’s and he raised an eyebrow.

“I stole this out of the laundry pile the housekeepers left on your bed in New York the other day. It’s so soft,” she explained simply and he smiled, beckoning her over to join him.

“I really can’t be mad,” he remarked when she laid down next to him, her bare thighs on display. Reaching over, he traced random patterns on her skin along the hemline of her (his) shirt, and she closed her eyes with a content smile on her face.  

“Didn’t think you would be,” she murmured, shifting closer to tangle her legs up with his.

“You know what I was just thinking?” She piped up a minute later. “After this is all out in the open, we can go on like, a real date while we’re at home.” She propped herself up on her elbow to look over at him. “At Corrado’s…. oooh I haven’t had their chicken parm since my birthday and that is a crime. We’ll take someone from my parent’s security detail with us so you can be off duty, like when we were at the baseball game.”

The memory of that evening brought a smile to his face but it faded quickly. The closer they got to going home, the more it felt a little bit like there was a timer counting down the seconds until a bomb went off. For her, he was trying to be outwardly optimistic of their chances of escaping unscathed from disclosing the nature of their relationship. Deep down though he was less convinced and he was savoring every remaining second they had together, dreading that they were going to be their last. Saying goodbye to this job, to her, was going to crush him, and he tried to hold onto a strand of hope that maybe everything wasn’t about to crash and burn. He didn’t regret the past few weeks, didn’t regret falling in love with her, but—

She must have taken note of his expression because she rubbed his back soothingly, “Hey, I know you’re worried, but it’s going to be fine. With my parents— I mean, you’re a good man, you’re good to me, why would they disapprove? They trust me to make my own decisions about so much. And with John… I know you violated part of your contract, but that hasn’t kept you from doing your job. I’m here, I’m safe. I’m sure he’ll be understanding…”

She made it seem so simple, and maybe she was right. He wanted to believe her.

Caressing her face, he ran his thumb over her cheek where her summer freckles had begun to fade. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She turned her head to kiss his palm before adding teasingly, “Now stop worrying about something that’s still a few days away and kiss me goodnight.”

He obliged. 

* * *

“Have a good break Lena!” She waved at her classmate when she spotted her at the end of the hall, exiting from another examination room on Thursday night.

Even from a distance she could see the apprehensive look that passed over her face, “Mmm, holidays at the Luthor household are not always the most enjoyable.”

She gave her a sympathetic pout. “You could just hop on the jet with me tomorrow and escape to Starling instead.”

_We might also be having our fair share of family drama though._

To say she was starting to feel a little nervous about talking to her parents about her and Oliver was an understatement. Despite her reassurances to Oliver, there was still a part of her that was worried that they were going to be upset. That this was going to irreparably damage the relationship she had with John.

They should have been honest with them right from the start, she could see that now, but at the time it had seemed harmless to just keep it a secret.

Lena laughed, “Don’t tempt me, I might actually take you up on it.” She waved before slipping out one of the exits, “See you in January, Felicity!”

Starting towards the exit where Oliver was waiting for her just outside the building while she was taking her last exam, she felt her phone buzz and slipped it out of her tote.

“Hmmm, that’s weird,” she muttered to herself, reading the email that had popped up on her screen as people around her filtered out of the building to leave for the night.

She swiped it away and hit the first number on her speed dial for Oliver.   

“What’s up?” he asked, picking up after the first ring.

“I have to go talk to one of my professors before we can leave. Something concerning my exam I took this morning… Whatever it is, I’m sure it won’t take long. I just wanted to give you a heads up. I’ll still meet you where we planned.”

Oliver hesitated for a second before replying, “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

“No, no, it’s fine.” She was going to meet with her professor, not a mob boss. Besides, she was ready to get out of there and go back to their apartment for a late dinner. If she waited for Oliver to meet up with her it was going to take longer. “His office is right in this same building.”

“Okay… See you soon.”

“See ya.” Hanging up, she turned down the hallway that would take her to her professor’s office. It was quiet in the building. With her last exam having been at the latest time slot, almost everyone had cleared out for the night and the lights had already been turned off in some hallways.

Worry clawed at her stomach. She had felt good about all of her exams, including her Cryptology one that this professor wanted to discuss, so she was a little thrown off by the request for an urgent meeting. Maybe someone had cheated off of her, but they didn’t know which of the identical tests belonged to the culprit…

When she arrived at his office, the lights were off but the door was cracked open. Tentatively, she walked in.

“Dr. Adams?”

Inside, only a desk lamp was on and she approached his workspace, peering around a set of bookshelves curiously. The place certainly seemed empty and she wondered if maybe she had read the email wrong.

Unease settled over her and she started to reach into her bag for her phone to call Oliver back. Before she could though, she heard the sound of footsteps behind her.

“Dr. Adams?” she tried again, turning back around towards the direction of the noise but being met by silence. The light in the hallway had been turned off, leaving her with only the dim light of the desk lamp.

Her heart started to speed up and she made her way towards the office door. Hurried steps, the click of her heels almost deafening in the eerie quiet. All the paranoia of her mother was starting to seep into her thoughts and she shook them away.

She was fine. There had just been a misunderstanding, she had read the email too quickly and Dr. Adams didn’t want to meet with her tonight. It was late and the maintenance staff was just turning the lights off for the night. Oliver was right outside waiting for her. She was going to be fine.

Out in the hallway, she reached again for her phone but was stopped by someone grabbing her arm roughly. Twisting, she aimed a punch at the shadowy figure and landed it to their jaw with a satisfying crack. In shock, the person staggered backwards, dropping her arm. The force of the impact had sent little pinpricks of pain running up her fingers and forearm and she clutched it to her chest as she hurried away from her attacker.

Before she could get very far, a second person grabbed a hold of her with a bone crushingly tight grip that she struggled against. A scream caught in her throat, a hand coming over her mouth and her lungs feeling tight as she felt her adrenaline waning.

Even in the dark, she caught the glimmer of metallic as the first assailant approached them again.

A knife.

_Oh, this is bad. This is so bad._

Any small amount of pride she might have gotten from the fact that she had at least managed to fight back a little bit was diminished by the helplessness she was feeling at the moment.

“Miss Smoak.”

A voice she didn’t recognize.

The knife was dragged across her cheek with just enough force to break the skin and she winced as she felt a trickle of blood run down her face. She wondered if this was payback for their inevitably bruised jaw.  

“We don’t have time for dramatics,” the person holding her grunted in exasperation.

Another voice she didn’t recognize.

_Why would you recognize their voices? Who do you know that is this crazy?_

“The bodyguard is going to come looking for her if we don’t move quickly,” no-nonsense guy continued as he started to push her down the dark hallway in the opposite direction of the exit where Oliver was waiting.

Her parents were going to kill her for insisting he didn’t need to accompany her. _Kill her._

Of course, that was all dependent on her first surviving this ordeal. It was a small comfort knowing she was way more valuable alive; she sincerely hoped these people knew that too.

The next thing she felt was a needle jabbing into her arm, hitting her with a wave of nausea as she continued being prodded forward. Her body ached from the arms restraining her, and she could only imagine the bruises she was going to have.

Faint murmurs were all she could distinguish of the hushed words the two guys were exchanging with her head feeling so fuzzy and heavy. Whatever they had injected her with was starting to have its desired effects.

She caught sight of the door they were exiting through before the edges of her vision went black. Crumpling completely into her captor’s arms, her grip on consciousness slipped away as everything went completely dark.

Every so often she thought she was aware of a little glimmer of something. Movement, like she was riding in a vehicle. Quiet voices talking. A cold breeze on her face. But she was never able to cling to one of those strands of reality and pull herself out of the haze she was trapped in.

At one point, who knows how many hours later, she became aware that she was on a cold, hard floor, curled inward on herself in the last method of self-defense she could muster. It sounded like rain was falling on a metal roof and a musty odor filled her nose.

Someone was approaching her, but from her position on the floor all she could see when she blinked her eyes was their black pair of boots.

Cupping her chin, running their thumb along her cheek. Had it been hours, days, since Oliver had made that same gesture? But his touch had been warm, affectionate. This was assessing.

“I told you idiots not to hurt her.”

A voice she didn’t rec—no, even in her disoriented state, some corner of her brain noted a familiarity with that voice.

_But who?_

She tried to look up at them but her eyelids were still so heavy, refusing to open again.

“She put up a fight.”

“We got her. Don’t complain about how we did it.”

A pause, and then, “How long until she wakes up?”

“Shouldn’t be long now.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well friends, you survived the cliffhanger :) in exchange for being so evil last week I'm posting this chapter a day early for you! I felt like it had been a while since we got a lot of Oliver's POV so this chapter is pretty heavy on that.... but you still get some answers as to what's happening with poor Felicity. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, especially your guesses on something at the very end of the chapter........ Enjoy!!

Oliver checked his watch for the third time in less than a minute. Through the window he could see light snowfall illuminated in the glow of a lamp post outside as the sky grew dark. He tried not to get himself flustered over the fact that Felicity hadn’t met him yet. It had only been a little more than ten minutes since she had called him to inform him of her meeting with her professor. There was no reason to assume that she wasn’t still in his office talking to him. For his own personal sanity though, he wished he would have insisted in going with her.

To avoid potentially being a distracting presence in the room, and to keep her from drawing attention she didn’t want, they had come to an agreement that he wouldn’t hang around inside her classrooms. And that wasn’t a problem. In a setting like that, she really wasn’t at risk of being in danger, and he always met her to accompany her from building to building.  

But with the late hour and the halls all but completely emptied for the evening, the stream of students that had been passing him as they exited the building had stopped a few minutes ago, he couldn’t help but feel nervous about her being without him. Sure, things had been relatively calm since he had started his job with her, but that didn’t mean that something would never happen to her.

He decided to give it three more minutes before he called her to check in.

They were the slowest three minutes of his entire life.

Finally, he dialed her number and silently pleaded that she would pick up and dissipate his worries.

Ring. Ring. Ring…

She didn’t pick up.

_‘Okay, still no reason to panic yet. She probably wouldn’t answer her phone if she was still talking to her professor,’_ he told himself while his heart rate threatened to take off running.

On one hand, he didn’t want to abandon his post if she was on her way to him. On the other hand, he needed to find her and reassure himself that she was okay. He wasn’t sure exactly where in the building she was, another thing he was kicking himself for. In his line of work, making the wrong decisions, letting his guard down even momentarily, could be very costly. He should’ve asked which professor she was meeting and what the location of his office was. She had said it was about one of her exams from that morning, so that meant it was either Calculus or Cryptology, which at least narrowed things down a little bit. At one point he had thought he heard the sound of heels clicking on the tile floor faintly from somewhere to his left but that could’ve been from another student, or a professor who was staying late to grade exams.

In the early days, when she had still been irritated by his presence, she had once quipped that she didn’t know why her parents didn’t just go all the way with their paranoia and have her injected with tracking nanites. This was one of the moments where he kind of wished they had.

He couldn’t stand it any longer, his patience for idleness had worn thin and he had to find her. Shooting her a quick text to let her know that he was moving away from their meeting spot, he turned down the hallway where he had thought he heard the footsteps earlier.

It was there that he encountered a janitor; an older woman with her silvery gray hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. She had headphones in and was swaying slightly to her music as she mopped the floors, completely oblivious to her surroundings.

He stepped into her line of sight and waved, “Ma’am? Hello?”

She removed her headphones and gave him an appraising look, “Hello there. How can I help you?”

“I was just wondering if you had seen someone pass by here? She’s blonde, wears glasses? She was probably wearing a trench coat and her hair was in a ponytail—“

“Felicity?” the woman interrupted him, recognition lighting up her face.

“Yeah,” he nodded enthusiastically.

“Oh she is just the sweetest thing. Showed me how to get my music on my phone last week.” She tapped her pocket where her phone was. “I’m not very tech saavy, but my grandson told me I needed to get myself an iPhone. Didn’t bother to help me figure out how to use it, but he’s a good kid. A baseball player. I don’t get to see him much since my daughter moved them out to—“

“Have you seen Felicity this evening?” He didn’t want to be rude and cut her off but there was a sense of urgency that didn’t allow for him to listen to her talk about her grandchildren.

“Oh umm…” She frowned, “No, I don’t believe so. You’re her bodyguard, aren’t you? Is everything alright?”

“Yes, and probably. She’s in a meeting with a professor, so I just want to meet her there when she’s done. Maybe you can help me? How well do you know this building?” He realized belatedly that question might have sounded a little patronizing considering she worked there.

“Like the back of my hand,” she replied. “Been working here for almost ten years now.”

“Okay, good.” Slipping out his phone, he pulled up the list of Felicity’s professors that he had saved and showed it to her. He pointed out her Calculus and Cryptology professors, “Do either of them have offices in this building?”

“Mhmm,” she nodded. “Dr. Adams does. Would you like me to show you?”

“Yes, please. That would be so helpful.” He checked his text messages to see if Felicity had responded before pocketing his phone and shifting on his feet anxiously.  

She placed a hand on his arm, “Are you sure everything is alright, dear? You seem a bit out of sorts…”

“I just need to find Felicity, and then I’ll be fine,” he assured her, trying to sound calm and collected even though that was not an accurate representation of his internal state.

“Okay, well follow me…” She led him towards one end of the building and he kept his eyes and ears attentive to any sounds coming from the hallways they were passing.

The wing that she led him into was completely dark and that didn’t help to ease his nerves. She flipped a switch and turned into the newly illuminated hallway.

“Well…. This is his office,” she gestured at a door with a metal plaque beside it that bore the inscription: _‘Dr. Adams. Computer Sciences.’_ “It doesn’t seem like anyone is here though.”

No it didn’t.

The door was slightly ajar and a single desk lamp cast a faint glow inside the room, but a quick look around indicated that the office was empty.

_Okay, now might be an acceptable time to panic a little._

He reached for his phone to try calling her again but he was met with no response as before.

“Is she…?” The janitor had a nervous look on her face and he could no longer keep his emotions under wraps.

“I don’t know.” He raked a hand down his face in agitation. “I don’t know where she is. I don’t know if she’s okay. It’s my job to know these things and I just—“ His voice broke and he dipped his head before whispering, “I just don’t know.”

This was the thing he was supposed to be good at. After years of wrestling with guilt because he hadn’t even tried to be the man his parents believed he could be before they died, he had finally felt like he had started to become that man when he started working for John. But John had trusted him with the most important assignment to him and he had failed.

He had failed her.

He tried not to let his mind jump to worst case scenarios, because that wasn’t productive. There was a reason they weren’t supposed to get too personally attached to their clients. A bit of emotional distance was beneficial for handling situations with composure and a level head.

And at the moment, he was struggling to maintain his composure.

“Thank you for your help,” he managed to get out. “I’m just going to look around here for anything suspicious and then I’ll be leaving.”

He wasn’t a detective, he knew he was going to have to call in reinforcements on this. But he also knew that the police wouldn’t do anything until 24 hours had passed and he was not about to just sit around and do nothing while the woman he loved was potentially in danger.

The janitor nodded solemnly and then gave him a little reassuring smile, “Everything will be okay. I bet you’ll have her home before Christmas.”

“She’s Jewish.”

“Before Hanukkah then.” She patted his arm and then headed back towards where she had been working, leaving him alone in the hallway. 

* * *

Warm. So warm.

She snuggled in closer to his side, feeling the heat from his bare skin thawing the chill in her body. Her fingers trailed out across his chest and torso, tracing over the chiseled planes of muscle.

“I don’t want to go to work today,” she muttered. “I’m so tired, and my head hurts. Will you stay here with me?”

“Of course.” He pressed a kiss into her hair, “Whatever you want.”

Closing her eyes, she tried to ignore her throbbing headache and completely relax into his embrace.

But suddenly his body went cold and she heard a voice that wasn’t his say, “I’m tired of waiting for her to wake up. How much did you dose her with?”

When she opened her eyes again she wasn’t with Oliver in her bedroom, she was on the cold hard floor where she had been deposited after she was taken. Despite her headache, she no longer felt that same cloud over her consciousness that she had when she had first awoken briefly earlier.

Without that cloud, her brain was able to make the connection of who the voice belonged to.

Disbelief. Confusion.

Turning her head slightly, she looked up and got the undeniable confirmation.

_What?_

* * *

Oliver scoured every inch of that hallway. He didn’t know what he was looking for, just… something, anything that might give some indication of what had happened to Felicity. He didn’t even know if she had even made it to this hallway before she was taken though, all he knew was that it was where she had been headed. Spotting a few scuff marks on the floor, he thought maybe it looked like someone had been dragging their feet along. Or maybe he was overanalyzing as a result of having just been reading a Sherlock Holmes novel. Either way, it gave him something to look into. He followed the trail as best as he could and it led him to a back exit.

When he pushed open the door, he was met with snowfall that had picked up significantly from earlier. His breath formed a cloud as he assessed the five parking spaces against the building. Two were filled with cars. He figured one of them might belong to the janitor he had just met. Of the empty spaces, one looked a little different. Stepping closer and using his phone flashlight to see better, he realized that the snow was not as high. There was only a light dusting coating the asphalt in contrast to the inch or two surrounding it. A large vehicle appeared to have had been parked there recently and he couldn’t help but imagine it as the type of sketchy van that a kidnapper might use.

There was nothing particularly helpful about any of this information though. He still didn’t know how he was supposed to go about finding her.

His phone rang and he practically jumped out of his shoes at how loud it sounded. Fumbling for it, he hoped beyond hope that the caller was Felicity. At this point he would even settle for the person who had Felicity, calling in about their ransom price. He had a feeling that call would be going to her parents though, not him.

A glance at the photo that had popped up on his screen indicated that the caller was Thea and he took a deep breath to gather himself before he answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey big brother! I was just wondering if you knew what time your plane was getting in tomorrow, because I was going to go see a movie with some friends but I wanted to make sure I—“

“There’s been a change of plans,” he interrupted her, a little more brusquely than he had intended. “I don’t think we’re going to be home tomorrow.”

“Oh. Is everything okay or…?” 

He exhaled, “Uhh…”

“Oh no.” Thea’s voice dropped to a soft, cautious tone, “Ollie, what happened?”

“Felicity she’s…” He swallowed, “She’s gone.”

“What? When? How?” his sister fired off questions rapid fire. He wished he had better answers for them.

“She was supposed to be at a meeting with a professor and she insisted that it was fine for her to go alone, but she never returned from it or answered her phone. When I went to his office there was no one there.” He shivered and brushed some snowflakes off that had settled on his head. “It looks like someone took her.”

“You think it was the professor?”

“No.” He started to walk in the direction of his car, keeping alert of his surroundings even though he could just intrinsically feel that Felicity was far away by now. “I mean, he’s going to be the first person questioned by the police I’m sure, but I think that was just a ruse to lure her away from me. Anyone with the tiniest fraction of Felicity’s computer knowledge probably could’ve hacked into his email account and sent her that message.”

“I’m so sorry, I know how much she means to you,” Thea consoled him.

“I shouldn’t have let this happen. I didn’t trust my instincts that were telling me I needed to go with her.” His hand that wasn’t holding his phone balled into a fist. “ _I didn’t do my job_ , and now…”

“Oliver you can’t put all the blame for this on yourself. It seems to me like someone was familiar enough with her routine to know how to create a rare scenario where they could bet on you not being with her. I don’t think anyone would have taken the risk otherwise.”

Deep down he knew that she was right, but in his frustrated, desperate state it was hard to believe her. Beating himself up at least gave him something to do.

What he should be doing was asking John what the next step he should take was, but he was terrified of making that call.

“I’m going to let you go so you can focus on what you need to do for Felicity,” Thea continued. “Just keep me posted, okay?”

“I will.”

After he hung up and made it to the car, he sat still in the driver’s seat for a second watching the snow fall and assembling his thoughts.

Finally, he managed to hit dial on John’s number.

A part of him was hoping that he wouldn’t pick up… but then he would have to figure out what to say on a voicemail and he didn’t want—

“Hey Oliver,” John greeted him distractedly. “On a scale of 1-10 how much of an emergency is this? Lyla is working late, so I’m in the middle of trying to make dinner while watching the twins—”

“9.5.” He cringed. “Possibly 10.”

There was a momentary pause before John replied, “I’m listening.”

* * *

“Charlotte?” Her voice came out like a croak, her throat dry and her lips cracked. Her cheek still stung from where she had been cut and her body ached with cold.

“Hey boss.” Charlotte took a few steps towards her and she looked up at her, blinking to adjust her eyes to the dim lighting and bring her into focus. Her dark hair wasn’t in its usual ponytail, but rather draped over her shoulders, and she was wearing an inky purple lipstick. There was an iciness in her eyes that she had never seen before, even as her voice dripped with sweetness. “Did you have a good nap? You’ve been so busy, you probably needed the sleep.”

“Wha—what’s going on?” She tried to sit up and the movement was frustratingly laborious. A quick glance around revealed that they were in some sort of empty warehouse with computers set up against one wall. There were two guys sitting at them and she wondered if they were the ones who had taken her from MIT.

Charlotte tilted her head, “I think that since I have been a very helpful assistant, it’s only fair that you help me with something in return. Don’t you think so too?”

Seeing as she had been drugged and carted off to an undisclosed location, she had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the sort of favor she would willingly agree to.

“What is it you need help with?” she asked warily, shivering even with her coat on.  

A sardonic smile appeared on Charlotte’s face, “Ruining your life.”

* * *

After he finished explaining what had happened, apologizing profusely for his misstep that had put them in this situation, he braced himself for John’s reaction.

“Okay.”

_“Okay?”_

“I’m not going to berate you Oliver, if that’s what you were expecting. I can tell you’ve already done a better job of beating yourself up over this than I would’ve.” He sighed, “Things go wrong sometimes, even if we follow protocol textbook perfectly. But no matter what happens, at the end of the day your job is to get Felicity home safely. I think I can still trust you to do that.”

A mixture of relief and surprise interrupted the steady stream of panic that had been coursing through him. If someone else was in his position and failed to keep her out of danger, he wasn’t sure he would be able to keep from cracking their jaw with his fist. Maybe John was just holding back though because he was better at keeping his emotions distanced from his professional responsibilities than he clearly was.

“I don’t want you to get the police involved in this right away,” John continued. “If the media catches word that she’s disappeared, this whole thing will get out of hand, and the last thing the family is going to want right now is a circus to deal with.”

“I get that, but I think I’m a little out of my depth here without help. And we shouldn’t just sit around and wait for a ransom note that might never come, what if something else is going on?”

“That’s why you’re going to pay a visit to a friend of mine who I think can help us out.” Diggle gave him a name and an address before having to wrap the call up because the twins needed his attention. “I’ll call and arrange a meeting for tomorrow. In the meantime, contact the professor and see if you can rule him out of being involved.”

“What about her parents?” he asked hesitantly. The last thing he wanted to do that night was tell Donna her baby girl had been taken, but he knew they needed to be in the loop.

“I’ll take care of informing Donna and Noah. I think it will be better if they hear it from me. Just keep updating me from your end, and I’ll let you know if her kidnappers reach out here. Now go home, get some sleep, eat something. You can’t help Felicity if you let yourself fall apart.” 

He nodded mutely before realizing that John couldn’t see him and muttered, “I know.”

They hung up and he looked up Dr. Adams to see if he could find a phone number for the man. Finding one to try, he dialed and waited while it rung.

“Hello?”

“Hi, umm Dr. Adams?”

“Yes. May I ask who’s calling?”

“My name is Oliver Queen. I’m Felicity Smoak’s bodyguard and I just had a question for you about—“

“Felicity,” the man gushed, instantly warming. “Now that girl is a genius. Brightest student I have ever had in my many years of teaching. She got perfect marks on her exam this morning and that has never happened on my final.”

“I’m guessing that’s what you wanted to talk to her about, right?”

“What do you mean?” Genuine confusion laced his voice and Oliver had a feeling he was right about there never being an actual meeting in the first place.

“Felicity received an email this evening, supposedly from you, requesting that she come to your office to discuss her exam,” he explained.

“I left the school around noon. I had no intention of meeting with any of my students this evening so it seems like my account might have been hacked into. I’m sorry for any inconvenience that she might have experienced due to that erroneous message.”

He nearly laughed out loud. If only he was dealing with a simple inconvenience.

“Dr. Adams, I don’t know a lot about computers, but is there some way you can trace who sent that email?”  

“Yes…depending on how careless the hacker was, it might be possible to gather a few breadcrumbs to follow. Mr. Queen, has something happened to Felicity?”

He sighed, “I believe so. Now I’m trying to figure out what. Just… call or text me back on this number if you are able to trace the email, please.”

“I will,” he assured him before saying goodbye and hanging up.

It made him feel the slightest bit better to know that he wasn’t staring at a complete dead end anymore. But as he drove from the campus to their apartment, he took a long roundabout route because he was dreading walking through the front door without her.

When he arrived, the silence felt oppressive and he missed her usual chatter.

He felt so tired, like the past few hours had stretched on for days, but he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to sleep without her tucked under his arm. Safe.

His phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number that he was able to determine was Dr. Adams.

**Hacker was very good. Not sure I’ll be able to track but will keep trying. May take days.**

And just like that he was back to having nothing useful to do.   

Plodding over to the refrigerator, he surveyed the contents. There were the ingredients for the dinner he had planned on making them, but he wasn’t in the mood for cooking for one instead of two. On the top shelf he spotted the leftover slices of a blueberry pie he had baked…

> **_Two nights ago_ **
> 
> _“What is that amazing smell?” Felicity asked, peeking her head up over the back of the couch where she had been working on her laptop since they got back from campus._
> 
> _“That—“ he opened the oven door and pulled out his creation before glancing over at her. “Is ‘you at survived your first day of final exams,’ blueberry pie.”_
> 
> _She nearly vaulted over the back of the couch to come investigate and he shook his head in amusement, sitting the pie on top of the stove to let it cool._
> 
> _“Oh I love pie,” she sighed as she joined him in the kitchen. Rolling up on her toes, she pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Not as much as I love you, but… I really love pie.”_
> 
> _He laughed, “I’m glad to hear that I rank slightly higher.”_
> 
> _She encircled his waist with her arms and rested her chin on his chest to look up at him, “Thank you. I would like to say that I’ll return the favor and bake you something when you start your classes next semester, but we both know that is likely to result in our house burning down.” She hugged him a little tighter, “But… by then we won’t be keeping our relationship a secret anymore, so I can take you out on a date to celebrate.”_
> 
> _Dipping his head, he gave her a light kiss. At this point he wasn’t sure if he was feeling optimistic or pessimistic about their upcoming conversation, he was just trying not to think about it. Bringing his hands to her thighs he lifted her up to sit her on the countertop. When he stepped in between her legs she looked over his shoulder longingly at the pie and he shook his head in amusement._
> 
> _“It’s got to cool before you can eat it.” He took her face in his hands and rested his forehead on hers. “I’m trying to help you out here by keeping you occupied while you wait.”_
> 
> _“You’re always so thoughtful,” she teased, hooking her legs around him before kissing him back._

He slammed the refrigerator door shut forcefully and heard the sound of something crashing inside. Sliding down onto the floor he rested his head in his hands and forced himself to take a few deep breaths, his chest heaving with silent sobs. This had to be a nightmare. Maybe if he just closed his eyes he would open them again to find her sitting next to him, eating a piece of the leftover pie and telling him about her day.

He had always known the reason her parents had gone to John about hiring him, and that it wasn’t just having someone to hang out with their daughter day in and day out, and occasionally clear her a path through swarms of press. From the beginning he had been aware of the potential threats against her. But his job had been so easy that at some point he had started to forget why it was so necessary in the first place, had stopped imaging that something like this would actually ever happen to her.

_And that’s exactly how you let something happen._

His phone started to ring, the sound shattering the silence of the apartment and startling him. Any glimmer of hope that he was stuck in a nightmare disappeared as his eyes flew open. The name of the caller flashed on his screen. 

_Caroline._

Up until this point he had managed to hold back tears, but as soon as he heard her soothing, motherly voice he could feel them start to well up in his eyes.

“Hey, John just called us. How are you holding up?”

Catching a blurry glimpse of his reflection in the oven door, his hair disheveled from raking his hands through it and his shoulders slumped, he let out a dry laugh even as a few tears were sliding down his cheeks. “Not very well.” He felt like the little boy who had broken a window of his house playing baseball in the yard with Tommy as he whispered, “Are they angry?”  

“At you? No, dear,” she reassured him. “They’re angry that someone took their daughter, but they’re not blaming you for that.”

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

She clicked her tongue, “Ah, and you’re not allowed to blame yourself either. Felicity is her own person, you cannot control everything she does and therefore you cannot control everything that happens to her. Don’t let yourself be swallowed up by guilt, she would not want that.”

“I know,” he mumbled. Her words were an echo of what Thea had already told him.

“Do you?” Caroline’s voice was light, “You’re not convincing me.”

“How do you sound so unbothered?” he snapped. “Do you not even care that she’s probably in danger?” He slammed his eyes shut and let out a long exhale. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Of course I care,” she replied softly. “She’s like a daughter to me and I am sick to my stomach just thinking about what someone might be doing to her, but there’s nothing that I can do to help her. Expect try and make sure that the man she cares so much about doesn’t beat himself up over something that isn’t his fault,” she added knowingly. “I don’t want her to lose you, on top of whatever she’s going through right now, and I’m a little worried that if you blame yourself for this ordeal you’re going to think you should resign.” 

The thought had crossed his mind multiple times in the past few hours. Of course, he figured he would be fired before he even got the chance. Forget the fact that he had been kissing her, this made that seem incredibly insignificant.

“You really think that’s going to be up to me?”

“You really think our Felicity, as strong-willed as she is, is going to let you get fired?” Caroline countered and he couldn’t help but let himself start to believe that she was probably right. “Just bring her home, okay?”

With steeled resolve, he vowed to her that he would do everything he could to make that happen.

* * *

_Ruining your life._

Charlotte’s words rang in her ears.

“I—I don’t understand,” she stammered. “I thought we were friends.”   

“Getting blindsided like that sucks, doesn’t it?” Charlotte crouched down to her level on the floor, “Our fathers were friends, did you know that?” She wracked her brain, trying to remember her father telling her anything about Charlotte’s father, but he had never been very forthcoming with information about his life before he was in hers. “Good friends. Rivals of sorts too, but they put that aside when they weren’t behind a computer,” Charlotte continued. “They respected each other’s talents.”

“What does our fathers’ history have to do with us?” she asked, her brow furrowed as she continued to try and process the situation she was currently in.  

“Everything,” Charlotte snapped before regaining her cool composure. “You and me, we’re so alike, you know? I could’ve had your life. My father was going to give everything up for me, he _promised_ he was going to be different for me, but he never got the chance because your father turned him in as part of his immunity deal with the Feds. While you got to be daddy’s little princess and have everything you could ever want handed to you on a silver platter, my father was in jail and my mother was working every shift she could pick up just to pay rent on our shitty apartment and keep me fed.” Faint memories, mostly from photographs, of the first five years of her life before her Dad had found them in Las Vegas were sparked in her brain by Charlotte’s words. “I was never able to go to college—“ At her befuddled expression Charlotte explained, “Yes, I convincingly falsified some of the information on my resume. After all, I’m a genius hacker’s daughter too. It was easy to make myself the most qualified candidate for the position I so very much desired in order to get close to you. _Anyway_ , my mom got sick so I had to take care of her instead of going to college. When she died five years ago, I was completely alone with my anger and pain. Your father betrayed mine and it ruined my life.” Charlotte ran her fingers through her disheveled ponytail and it sent a chill down her spine, “Now I’m going to return the favor.”  

_How has she managed to hide for the past few months that she’s fifty shades of crazy?_

She liked to think she wouldn’t have become this bitter, vengeful person if the hands they had been dealt in life had been flipped, but it was hard to know for sure how different circumstances might have shaped her.  

“Charlotte… I’m so sorry. Truly, I didn’t know about any of this.” She suddenly remembered her father’s strange reaction to seeing Charlotte at Thanksgiving dinner. It made a little more sense now. The wheels in her brain started to turn. She didn’t know exactly what Charlotte planned to do, but maybe she could reason with her, offer to help her move forward with her own life instead of seeking retribution. They could mend what had been broken between their families so many years ago. “I understand why you’re upset—“

“No you don’t.” She shook her head, “You don’t understand. You won’t until your perfect life is crashing down around you and you’re left with nothing like I was.”

Okay, so reasonableness was probably off the table.  

Which meant she was seriously hoping that Oliver had already started looking for her.  

* * *

At 9:03am he stood outside an apartment building in Boston and buzzed for apartment 3B. The night before he had managed a little sleep in between nightmares, but he was mostly running on caffeine from a large black coffee. Tapping his foot impatiently, he waited for a response.

“Hello?” The voice was a little crackled over the old intercom system.

“Hi. My name is Oliver Queen. I’m a friend of John Diggle’s. He said he called to let you know that I was coming?”

“Right. He did.” He heard the mechanical clicking sound of the door unlocking. “Come on in.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! I just want to say thank you again for how much love this story has been getting. It has been such a treat to write this for you and I'm a little sad that we're getting so close to the end.... but I'm excited too to start working on my next fic I have planned ;) I apologize for not getting a chance to reply to comments this week, things were a little busy for me, but I do have an extra long chapter for you :) As always I would love to hear what you thought, enjoy!!

“You know, you haven’t mentioned yet how exactly you’re planning on ruining my life. Unless it’s to just keep me trapped forever in this—“ Felicity glanced around, “Warehouse? Which, while admittedly that would suck, doesn’t really seem like it would be all that satisfying for you.”

“You’re right.” Charlotte crossed her arms, “What will be truly satisfying for me is to take away what your whole life revolves around.” Felicity stared at her blankly and she clarified, “The family business. A lot of people trust Smoak & Kuttler to keep their secrets safe… I can’t imagine you’ll be able to keep any of your clients when they find out that trust has been broken by the princess herself. We’ve arranged some buyers who are very interested in the information you’re going to sell them. When word gets out about what you did… the company’s reputation, your family’s reputation, will be ruined. You might be able to avoid jailtime for your… _misdeeds_ , but the company won’t survive the scandal and your perfect life will crumble around you. Without a business to run, do you think your father will be restless? Unsatisfied with nothing but his family and a dwindling bank account, do you think he’ll run back to his old life?”

The notion gave her pause. Her father had promised her he wouldn’t leave them again, no matter what, and the past thirteen years had given her no reason to doubt that, but— _but nothing_. Charlotte was obviously trying to upset her, and she wasn’t going to grant her that satisfaction by allowing her words to take root inside of her.

Charlotte crouched on the floor beside her and gave her a fake sympathetic look, “I hope your mother hasn’t lost her touch as a cocktail waitress, because the whole ‘socialite’ thing she’s doing now isn’t exactly going to pay the bills.” She watched as Charlotte fingered the lapel of her expensive coat, “Although… between the two of you, you could probably last a while just from selling your clothes.” She stood back up again and started to pace, “Without your job, and your family’s status, you—you’re nothing special. Certainly not the D-list celebrity you’ve somehow managed to become. You’ll be just a bitter, resentful girl with no prospects for the future, who’s way too smart for her own good. And then you’ll be able to understand how I feel.”

“What makes you think I’m going to do anything you want me to? I could just sit here on this floor and refuse. What are you going to do then? Just let me starve to death?”

“Oh Felicity… one of the great things about working closely with you for the past few months is that I know who the people are that you would do anything for. You’re not doing anything for me, you’re not even doing this for yourself, since you’re apparently fine with dying. No, you’re doing this for your parents, for Sara, for Caroline, for Iris, for Thea, for Oliver…” With every name she listed, Felicity felt like a knife was being twisted inside of her. “You wouldn’t want anything to befall them because you were being noncompliant, would you? You’re going to lose so much Felicity, don’t make me take away someone you care about too.” 

Charlotte was right. She wasn’t going to risk putting any of them in jeopardy by being stubborn, but she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of how many people, beyond just her family, were going to be hurt by this vendetta. Their clients, their employees…

“Are you not concerned by that fact that you’re not going to have a job either if we destroy the company?” she inquired. “A job that you were really good at, might I add.”

One of the guys who had taken her turned around in his chair to address her. “Once we have your super virus, Charlie’s not going to need to be anyone’s corporate lapdog to pay her bills.”   

A look of irritation flickered across Charlotte’s face at his interjection. Meanwhile, a fresh wave of panic bubbled up inside of her.

“How—how do you know about that?” Felicity asked nervously, trying to stand up but finding herself still too weakened from the sedatives or whatever drugs she’d been given. If her post-wisdom-teeth-op experience had taught her anything, it was that she was a bit of a lightweight.  

Charlotte clicked her tongue, “You shouldn’t accidentally leave dangerous things like that open on your computer Felicity. Not when your assistant, who’s capable of grasping some concept of what you’re working on, might just happen to wander by while you’re in a meeting and take note. I’m hoping you might finally finish your super virus for me now that you have some more spare time on your hands than usual.”

“An x-axis bio-numeric algorithm,” she muttered.

“What?”

She looked up at her, “It’s not a super virus, it’s an x-axis bio-numeric algorithm and I don’t see what it has to do with me selling out my client’s information. I can walk right into those systems.”

“Oh I know. But I figured I might as well get two things out of this, since it was such a pain in my ass to get you here with the way you and Oliver are always attached at the hip.” Charlotte tapped her chin, “I must say though, I’ve been struggling a little to figure this out, so I do hope you’ll enlighten me as to what you were planning on doing with a super virus—sorry, _algorithm_ —strong enough to cripple an entire city. That just doesn’t seem like your usual M.O.”

“Nothing,” she assured her. “I wasn’t going to use it for anything. At least not anything like that. I was just working on it here and there for fun. My job keeps me busy, and I do enjoy it, but it’s not always challenging.” She wasn’t sure why she was telling her this, but she had learned from enough movies that chatting, and therefore, stalling, was never a bad idea in these situations. She sighed, “Honestly, as annoying as those hackers were the other day, I kind of appreciated doing something a little less routine.”

 “You’re welcome babe,” the other guy at the computers tossed over his shoulder and Charlotte rolled her eyes. His jaw was bruised and she knew he must be the first guy who had attacked her at school. The one who had given her the gash on her cheek. “You know, it’s a shame Charlie hates you so much, because you’re hot and good with your fingers.” He gave her a salacious look that made her want to slap him if she could just get herself up off the floor. “I wouldn’t mind having you a part of Brother Eye.”

“For the hundredth time Cooper, I told you we’re not calling ourselves that,” Charlotte snapped at him. “It’s a stupid name. Now shut up and go back to whatever you were doing.” She turned her attention back to her, “As soon as you use your company login, you’ll be easy to locate. I’m sure someone is watching for any online activity they can trace you from. Which means you’re going to finish your algorithm first, before we’re on a time crunch to obtain the information the buyers requested and disappear. How long will it take for you to finish the algorithm?”

_Twenty minutes of undistracted work time, tops._

Her eyes caught on a clock display on one of the computer monitors that indicated to her that it was 9:26am, the morning after she had been taken from MIT. Who knows how long they had been traveling overnight while she was unconscious, they could be halfway across the country. 

“Forty-eight hours,” she answered Charlotte, hoping she wouldn’t see it for the lie it was.

To her relief, she nodded, “Good.” Turning around, she grabbed a laptop that Felicity recognized as her personal one that had been in her tote. She wondered where the other contents had disappeared to. Charlotte was smart enough to probably have destroyed her phone so it couldn’t be pinged. “I suppose you’ll be needing this. Don’t worry, I’ve made sure outside signals are blocked, so you don’t even have to be tempted to do something as foolish as attempt to contact anyone.” She handed her the laptop, “Forty-eight hours. And then we move on to the matter of the company, whether you’re finished or not, because that’s more important to me.”

“Forty-eight hours,” she echoed in acknowledgment before opening her computer.

_‘I’m being as generous as I can here Oliver,’_ she communicated with him silently.

* * *

Up on the third floor of the building, he only had to knock once on the door of apartment 3B before it was swung open for him.

“Oliver.”

Tipping his head, he greeted the woman who stood before him, “Dinah.”

Former CCPD detective, she had relocated to Boston a few years back to work as a PI, John had informed him when he suggested he enlist her help. She wasn’t bound to the policy of the 24 hour waiting period the police were _and_ she wasn’t all the way on the other side of the country like the other people they knew who would be willing to help.

“John explained the situation with Felicity on the phone last night, but I guess it’s best for me to start by asking if anything has changed since then?” Following her into her apartment, he wished he could tell her something had. That her kidnappers had reached out and made demands that they could meet to just get Felicity back home. That her professor had been able to get a lead on who had hacked his account.

By now he had expected that she would have been used as leverage for something. Money… information… her family had numerous resources to offer in exchange for their daughter. The fact that no demands had been made yet had him fearing for her life. 

“No.” He sighed. “Nothing has changed.”

“Okay.” She sunk down onto one of her armchairs and gestured for him to do the same. “I’m not going to lie to you Oliver, without much to go off of, finding her isn’t going to be easy.” Even though her words didn’t come as any sort of surprise to him, he gripped the arms of his chair tightly as he sucked in a deep breath. He didn’t release it until she rested a hand on his forearm and added softly, “ _Not impossible_ , just not easy.”

“Thank you for helping,” he managed to get out.

“Of course.” She gave him a small smile. “It’s what I do… and I can relate to what it’s like to be in your position.”

“My position?”

“When I was still working as an undercover detective… my partner… he wasn’t just—uh… we had a relationship that we probably shouldn’t have because it made things harder.” He could tell that it was a painful subject for her to talk about and he wasn’t sure why she was bringing it up until she continued with, “Your feelings for Felicity make this harder, don’t they?”

“My what?” He attempted to sound confused. Although truthfully he _was_ confused, because he wasn’t sure how she could have known that he was anything more than Felicity’s bodyguard.

“I’m a detective Oliver. I like to think that I’m good at reading people,” she answered calmly. “But don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

It wasn’t supposed to be a secret for much longer. They were supposed to be arriving home in Starling this morning, where they would discuss with her family what had been going on between them for the past few months. If he had been nervous about having that conversation before, it was nothing compared to how worried he was about their reaction now. Now that he didn’t even have the fact that he had never let anything happen to her as a defense for keeping his job.

“What happened with your partner?” he blurted out before wincing. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”

She closed her eyes, “He was murdered right in front of me.” When her eyes reopened, there was a fiery determination there, “I will do everything I can to spare you of the pain that I felt upon losing him.” Reaching for her laptop, she started typing, “I’ve gathered some information that should at least give us a starting point. Security footage from outside the building where Felicity was taken from. They were smart enough to cut off the cameras on the building itself, but they missed one on a neighboring building that captured them in it's sightline. The shadows were too dark to ID anyone, but I was able to get the plate number off the van. I’m having someone run it for me as we speak.”

He nodded mutely as he watched the footage, relieved to know that there was at least a thread for them to pull on again. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and as with every time it had since she’d been taken, he was startled by it. Slipping it out, he deflated when he saw that it was just a notification from her synced calendar.

**CONFERENCE CALL WITH WAYNE ENTERPRISES: 12PM**

He glanced at the time, 9:26am. Barring an absolute miracle, he doubted she was making that call.

“I need to take care of something quickly,” he told Dinah before excusing himself and dialing for the office.

“Felicity Smoak’s office, how may I help you?”

“Eliza?” he asked in surprise. “Where’s Charlotte?”

“She’s out sick, which means I’m manning both Felicity and Daniel’s phones and she owes me big time when she’s no longer puking her guts out,” Eliza answered. “I mean, not _big_ big time. If you recall, I did this until she was hired, so it’s nothing I haven’t handled before. I think I at least deserve a cronut or two for my services though.”  

“Yes, you do. And I’m sorry to put something else on your plate, but I’m going to need you to cancel Felicity’s noon conference call with Wayne Enterprises today.”

“No problem, I’ll do that straight away.” There was a hesitance in her voice when she added, “Is everything alright?”

“Something has just come up and she’s not going to be available then,” he responded as evenly as he could. “Tell them she will call and reschedule as soon as possible.”

* * *

“You know, this plan of yours is really not that sound,” Felicity pointed out while she typed on her computer. She had finally managed to get up off the floor and had been given a seat with the three of them at the workstation against the wall.  “What’s stopping me from outing you for coercing me into selling the information? I’m pretty sure that’s more believable than me trying to hurt my own company.”

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Charlotte fix her with a look, “ _Make it believable_ or someone you care about gets hurt.”

“What’s even my motive?” She continued, not bothering to even look at her and unwilling to let herself seem fazed by her threats. “I don’t need money. I don’t have anything against my family.”

“Which is why I told you it was a stupid plan,” Cooper muttered.

“No one asked you,” Charlotte grumbled.

He ignored her. “When you found out that you couldn’t crack her systems yourself, you should’ve scrapped this. We should’ve just gotten her to finish the virus for us and then demanded some ransom money, like I suggested. Sure, it probably wouldn’t have been as much as we’ll get from the sales of the intel but—“

“This isn’t about the money!” She hopped up from her seat, “This is about getting justice!”

Cooper stood up from his chair too and shook his head, “Do you hear how crazy you sound? You have got to get over your daddy issues!”

“I don’t—“

“She’s right about there being too many holes in your plan.” He gestured at Felicity as he took a step closer to Charlotte. “But you’re so hell-bent on revenge, _for something she didn’t even do_ , that you’re not thinking clearly. Start using your brain here!”

“ _Start_ using my brain? I’ve been planning this for months now! Do you think I haven’t thought this through?”

“It sure as hell doesn’t seem like it!”

“Will you two please shut up!” Felicity exclaimed, fed up with their shouting that was making her headache worse. Neither of them looked in her direction but they fell silent. “I’m trying to work here, so please take your lovers quarrel somewhere else.”

“Oh, I like her,” the other guy, who she had since heard Cooper call Myron, remarked, giving her a grateful look. “Are you sure we can’t keep her?”

Charlotte and Cooper glared at each other for a few more seconds before Charlotte stomped off, tossing over her shoulder, “I need some air. You two watch her.”

When they heard the door of the building slam, Cooper slumped back down into his seat, “She’s insane. If it wasn’t for the fact that her skills are useful we would have said sayonara to her a long time ago.”

“Her skills are useful for what?” _Chatting equals stalling._ “What are you guys even doing here? Besides kidnapping people.” 

He smirked, “A little combo of hacktivism and cyber-crime… Although some people would probably consider them the same thing.”

She raised an eyebrow, “So what is the difference?”

“Hacktivism is… for the greater good, the cyber-crime is for the good of our bank accounts.” He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk. “Gotta pay the bills somehow babe. We can’t all be your assistant.”  

Every time he called her babe she became more determined to give him another bruise to match the one on his jaw. She ground her teeth. “What are you going to use my algorithm for?”

He shrugged, “Little bit of both.”

Sighing, she replied sarcastically, “So glad I can help.”

* * *

He prodded at his container of Chinese takeout with his chopsticks as he sat at Dinah’s kitchen table, uninterested in eating despite her insistence. They had just returned from the alley where the ping on Felicity’s phone GPS had led them. After a thorough look around it had become clear that she was not anywhere nearby and her phone had just been thrown out there as her kidnappers drove through.

With every minute that ticked by without seeming to make any sort of progress on locating her, he could feel himself becoming more frantic and frustrated. It had been a good call on John’s part to send him to Dinah because her calm, focused demeanor was what Felicity needed right now.   

Dinah looked up from her computer. “Does Felicity have any… enemies? That’s not really the right word, but you know what I mean. Someone with a personal connection to her, who would maybe have a reason to take her that’s unrelated to financial gain.”

He shook his head vehemently. “No. Everyone loves Felicity,” he insisted before adding in a faint whisper, “How could they not?”

He couldn’t recall encountering anyone who wasn’t completely charmed by her. Even grumpy old businessmen warmed after a few minutes in her presence.

He thought of the person he was before he walked into her life. He hadn’t realized then, that at some point, with everything that had happened since his parent’s death, he had buried so many of his emotions. His desires for his life. It had seemed easier that way. In hindsight, that was probably the root of why things hadn’t worked with McKenna. He had just been focused on what he needed to do, for himself and for Thea. Focused on the predictable, reliable routine of his day, without feeling much of anything.

Of course, his days still had a routine now, but she had shaken things up in the best way. She had broken through the walls he had built around his heart. Made him think about the things he wanted for himself again.

What he wanted right now was to wrap her up in his arms and know she was safe.

“Okay.” Dinah held her hands up, “Just throwing some different ideas out there.”

“Have you heard back about the license plate number yet?” he asked, shifting in his seat restlessly.

“You’ll be the first person I tell when I do,” she hummed as she typed. 

“What can I do now? I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

“Waiting is one of the hardest parts of an investigation,” she sympathized. “But we’ve got a few leads in the works, so we’re not really doing nothing.”

He knew she was right, but he was going to go crazy if he sat at this table any longer. His body thrummed with nervous energy and he needed somewhere to direct it. His preference would be a punch to the face of whoever had taken Felicity.

Standing up from the table, he informed her that he was going to take a walk. “Call me if you hear anything.”

She nodded, “Of course.”

* * *

“I’m hungry.”

“I’m not sure we’re allowed to feed the prisoner,” Cooper joked and she glared at him. He twisted in his seat to look at Charlotte who had relocated herself to the other side of the building after she returned. “Charlie! I’m going out to get breakfast. What do you want?”

“Blueberry bagel with crunchy peanut butter,” Felicity muttered under her breath just before Charlotte echoed her.

“That was freaky,” Myron commented.

She shrugged, “I picked her up breakfast some mornings when I stopped at Jitters on my way into work. She asked for the same thing every time.”

The guys both stared at her for a second before Cooper asked, “So… what do you want?”

_To be on my jet flying home instead of stuck here with you._

“A chocolate chip muffin and the largest size coffee you can obtain. Sugar no cream.”

“I’ll see what I can do princess,” he replied as he stood up. “Try not to miss me too much while I’m gone.”

She didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response.

* * *

Oliver wandered down the sidewalk outside Dinah’s apartment complex, dodging the piles of snow that had been created by the roads being plowed. He watched the people he passed by, keeping his eyes peeled for the one person he knew full well he wasn’t going to see.

A few blocks down, his phone started ringing and he pulled it out of his pocket to see that the caller was Felicity’s professor, Dr. Adams.

“Oliver?”

“Yes Dr. Adams.” 

“I might have good news for you.”

His heart leaped, “Really?”

“Yes. I stayed up all night trying to trace the hacker—“

“You didn’t need to do that,” he interrupted him guiltily.

“It was no trouble,” he assured him. “Anything to help Miss Smoak. Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve engaged in a little cyber espionage. I rather enjoyed it.”

He huffed in amusement. “Well, thank you.”

“So as I said, the good news is I’ve been able to ID the hacker. At least I think. I tracked the IP address to an apartment building a few miles away and I was able to uhh— _borrow_ a list of the tenants. While I’m not absolutely certain which of them is our hacker, I have a good guess. A former student of mine, Cooper Seldon. Very bright, but a little too angry at the world to apply himself to school. He dropped out after last year and I haven’t seen him since. I’m not sure if this is helpful or not…”

“Yes, this is definitely helpful.” At least he hoped it would be. He turned around to head back to Dinah and thanked Dr. Adams again.

“All I ask in return is that you let me know when you’ve found her.”

“I will,” he promised before hanging up.

* * *

“One chocolate chip muffin and the largest coffee I could obtain. Sugar, no cream.” Cooper plunked the paper bag and cup down beside her computer. He was silent for a second before adding, “You’re welcome.”

“I’m being held hostage. I don’t know why you were expecting a thanks,” she muttered, taking a sip of the warm, energizing liquid.

Dipping his face in close to hers, his breath was hot on her ear when he spoke. “Look, babe. We could make this a lot more miserable for you.” He traced over the gash he had left on her cheek the night before and she swallowed thickly as a chill ran through her. “But we’re playing nice right now since you’re being compliant. If you want things to stay like this, I wouldn’t get smart-mouthed. Understand?”

She nodded slowly and he backed away, walking over to Charlotte to deliver her breakfast.  

“Crazy attracts crazy,” she whispered and Myron huffed in agreement beside her.

* * *

“Hi, my name is Dinah Drake. I’m a private investigator and one of your tenants is a suspect in a missing person’s case. Could you please direct me to Cooper Seldon’s room?” Dinah flashed her badge at the woman standing behind the front desk of the apartment building. When he had gotten back to her apartment, she had just heard back about the license plate number on the van. It had been a rental and the company it was registered to had their entire records wiped out when their system crashed not long after the van was returned.

_“The old guy I talked to went on for at least five minutes about how if they just did everything on paper like they used to, instead of relying on the fancy new computers, this wouldn’t have happened,”_ Dinah had shared with him.

They both agreed that the system crashing hadn’t been a coincidence. Whoever had rented the van had been covering their tracks.  

Although the guy she talked to from the rental place couldn’t remember names, he had at least given her somewhat decent descriptions of two guys who had come in the day before for a van. One of them matched with a picture they were able to dig up of Cooper Seldon, Dr. Adam’s prime suspect for the hack on his account.

The woman at the front desk clicked her tongue and handed them a key. “I’m not even surprised he’s gotten himself in trouble. There was always something about that kid that gave me the creeps. Room 238.” She pointed down a hallway. “There’s an elevator just that way.”

“Oh no, we don’t have a search warrant. We can’t go into his room without him letting us in,” Dinah clarified, handing the key back to her.

“Well then I wouldn’t waste your time going up there. He left yesterday afternoon with some friends of his and hasn’t been back since.”

“You’re certain of that?” Oliver asked.

The woman looked offended, “Nothing and no one comes in and out of this building without me knowing.” She leaned across the desk and whispered, “Me and some other trusted residents have got our own sort of neighborhood watch going on in this building. I can let you look at the security tapes though if you don’t believe me.”

When he glanced over at Dinah she looked amused and shrugged, “Sure, why not?”

The woman beckoned them to join her on the other side of the desk to see her computer monitor. “Let me just rewind back to yesterday and then… Ah, here we go.” She pointed at the screen. “There he is leaving and if you’ll see—“ She started to scrub the footage forward but something had caught his attention in the first frame she had shown them and he covered her hand with his, “Stop. Please. Go back to the beginning.”

She obliged and he leaned in a little closer to confirm what he thought he had seen. _“No way.”_

“What?” Both Dinah and the front desk lady asked at the same time.

“The girl with him? That’s Felicity’s assistant Charlotte.”

* * *

Felicity’s attention was caught by the sound of a ring tone she recognized as Charlotte’s. She would’ve just returned her focus to her “work”—for the past few hours she had been coding long strings of nonsense and hoped that her captors were too absorbed by their own computer screens to notice—if it wasn’t for the first sentence of Charlotte’s conversation that she heard.

“Oliver, that’s so kind of you to check in on me.”

She narrowed her eyes.

_What?_

Her voice lacked the edge it had taken on since she had woken her up in this warehouse and she sounded like her sweet, friendly assistant again.

Charlotte giggled— _giggled_ at whatever Oliver said next and she nearly slammed her head down onto her keyboard.

“It’s okay. I don’t have much of an appetite right now anyway. I know Felicity has mentioned before that you are an excellent cook though, so maybe when you’re back in the city in January you can make me some of that soup.”

A few seconds later, she gasped, “What do you mean Felicity is missing?”

_Give this girl an Oscar, honestly._

“That’s so scary.” “Mhmm.” “Uh-huh.” “Of course.”

When Charlotte finally hung up, Felicity heard her the sound of her footsteps approaching her.

“Poor Oliver. He sounds so distressed.” She rested a hand on her shoulder. “Not to mention completely clueless. I wouldn’t count on him rescuing you. Honestly, I’m kind of disappointed in him.”

Felicity just rolled her eyes and continued typing, and eventually Charlotte walked away.

> **_Three weeks ago…_ **
> 
> _“You want to learn how to do something fun?” she asked, leaning against his side and resting a hand on his thigh when he joined her on the couch._
> 
> _Oliver reached over to play with one of her curls and grinned, “Yeah.”_
> 
> _She blushed, “I’m not sure we’re thinking about the same kind of learning experience.”_
> 
> _He raised an eyebrow at her, “Oh?”_
> 
> _“Uhh—“ She laughed nervously, sitting up straight and reaching for her computer, “So… it might be a good idea for you to know how to ping a cell phone...”_
> 
> _“Well I don’t know what you were thinking, but that’s definitely the kind of fun learning experience I was imagining,” he replied innocently. She could see a teasing glint in his eye though that made her blush deepen._
> 
> _Biting her lip, she slipped her phone out of her pocket and handed it to him. She watched him smile when the lock screen lit up and he saw the picture of them at the baseball game that she still had set as her wallpaper._
> 
> _“If you ever lose track of me, you can ping the GPS of my phone to find me. Provided I still have it on me, of course.”_
> 
> _He frowned, “I’m not going to lose you.”_
> 
> _“I know,” she patted his thigh. “But this is still a good skill to learn. And it’s not that hard.”_
> 
> _“And what if you don’t have your phone on you?”_
> 
> _“Well… this is still useful. Let’s say someone calls to demand ransom. If they make a careless mistake and haven’t deactivated their GPS, and you can keep them talking long enough, you could get a hit on their location.”_
> 
> _“Alright,” he consented. “Definitely seems useful. Teach me your ways.”_

* * *

“Got her,” he mouthed at Dinah before wrapping up his phone call with Charlotte. He handed her back her laptop, “Here’s the coordinates of her location. Let’s hope that Felicity is somewhere nearby.”

“This was a smart plan Oliver, I’m impressed.”

He turned the key in the ignition and smiled for what felt like the first time in forever. “Thank you. I’ve spent nearly every day of the past eight and a half months with Felicity, I guess some of that genius was bound to rub off on me.”

Dinah laughed and pointed out the turn they had to take that was coming up ahead.

The coordinates from Charlotte’s phone led them a few miles outside of the city to an abandoned looking industrial building.

“Well this definitely looks like the sort of place you would take someone you kidnapped.” Dinah remarked.

“I agree. Although I’m still confused as to why Charlotte would have been involved in kidnapping her. She always seemed to have genuinely liked Felicity.”

They passed by the building and parked the car nearby, but out of sight, so that they could approach somewhat stealthily. He knew he shouldn’t be getting his hopes up too much in case this was a dead end and Felicity wasn’t here, but there was a part of him that could just feel that she was nearby.

“We should split up, approach from different angles,” Dinah advised, and he nodded in agreement.

When he reached his side of the building, he scanned for accessible entrances and looked up to see a second story door that was swinging loosely on its hinges in the cold wind. Climbing up some crates that were stacked against the building, he was able to jump up and pull himself into the doorway. Inside, he made his way through the darkness with his senses on high alert. A few paces in, his ears turned up at the sound of voices coming from somewhere below him. He switched on his phone flashlight to discover that he was near a stairwell and he made his way over to it to descend.

On the ground level of the building, a few lights flickered dimly, illuminating his steps, and he texted Dinah his whereabouts before pocketing his phone again and moving forward towards the noise.  

“No! I am working on the algorithm. I promise!” Suddenly rang out through the hallway, followed by a whimper.                                                                              

His breath caught at the familiar voice… and the pain in it. She was here. Hurt, maybe, but alive. He was so close.

He paused to gather himself because he wanted nothing more than to run recklessly to her without assessing the situation and that would be dangerous for both of them.

Padding forward softly, he peered around a corner of the wall to find himself looking into a large space. Mostly empty, except for a long workstation along one wall, set up with several computer monitors, and four people with their backs currently to him.

_Felicity._

_Charlotte._

_Cooper._

He tilted his head to try and identity the fourth.  

_And some other guy._

As a group, they didn’t look very threatening, but they had managed to restrain Felicity and drag her here, so they obviously shouldn’t be underestimated. Charlotte and Cooper were standing over Felicity’s chair and berating her about something he couldn’t entirely understand involving some algorithm. Even from a distance he could sense the anger emanating off both of them in waves.

He needed to get her out of there before one of them lashed out physically. He remembered the whimper he heard a moment ago and winced.

Lashed out physically, _again._

Taking a step forward, he growled, “Step away from her.”

Charlotte spun around in surprise while Cooper grabbed Felicity from her chair and had one hand around her waist and a knife to her throat before he could get any closer to them.  

“I think it’s you who needs to take a step back,” he sneered and Oliver’s eyes zeroed in on the glint of sharp metal before coming up to meet Felicity’s wide ones. Her lip was split and bleeding and there was an ugly gash on her cheek that he imagined came from the same knife she was being threatened with now. “Unless you want me to _accidentally_ apply a little too much pressure.”

The wheels in his brain spun rapidly. He couldn’t risk making a move and, while he had taught Felicity a little self-defense, they hadn’t exactly covered being held at knifepoint. Based on the look on her face, he doubted she would try something she wasn’t confident wouldn’t end with that blade slicing her. All five of them stared at each other, frozen in place, waiting for someone to make a move, until—

“Hey! Don’t grab a woman unless you have permission, dumbass.”

Cooper’s arm that was holding his knife dropped a little in surprise as his head turned up towards the direction of Dinah’s voice coming from a hole in the ceiling above them before she jumped down. Felicity reacted quickly, using the distraction to her advantage to escape from Cooper’s grasp with a technique he had taught her now that the knife wasn’t in such close proximity. With Felicity safely out of the way he was able to lunge forward and attack Cooper, sending his knife clattering to the ground, as Dinah took care of Charlotte and their other accomplice. None of them were skilled fighters by any means, and they quickly accepted defeat without Felicity to use as a human shield.

He had Cooper’s arms restrained behind his back when Felicity stepped in front of them with a determined expression. She landed a solid punch to Cooper’s jaw that made his chest swell with pride.

Felicity cradled her hand in close to her body, and he could see that her knuckles were already bruised from the other punch she must have delivered, but she kept the pain off her face as she remarked casually, “There. Now both sides of your face match.”  

* * *

Felicity burrowed her face in the crook of Oliver’s neck to shield it from the cold wind as he carried her on his back up to the door of their apartment. After the ordeal at the warehouse, she had called her family to assure them of her safety, given a statement at the local police precinct, and eaten some pancakes at a diner with Dinah and Oliver. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she was exhausted. It had been less than 24 hours since she had been taken from MIT, but it felt like days had passed. She could tell that Oliver was tired too. Besides asking her a million times if she was okay, he hadn’t said much, but the dark circles under his eyes and the way he refused to be more than six inches away from her since finding her said enough about how all this had affected him.

She imagined he must have questions about the things she had said in her police statement, and the details she had left out. There would be time to talk more about what happened on the plane home to Starling tomorrow. For now, all she wanted was to curl up in the safety of his arms and sleep.

Inside the apartment, he carried her into her bedroom and sat her down carefully on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry I let them hurt you,” he whispered, stepping in between her legs and reaching down to caress her upturned face. His fingers skimming over the cut on her cheek and the bruise that had begun to form where Charlotte had hit her upon discovering she hadn’t been working on the algorithm the entire day.  

Shaking her head, she protested, “What? No… we’re not doing this. What happened is not your fault. No one is blaming you, so don’t even go there.” She covered his hand with her own. “Please. All that matters now is that you found me. I’m safe.”

He closed his eyes and nodded.

“And I’m still going to be home in time for my mother’s annual holiday party, which is really the most important thing. If you hadn’t gotten me there safely… then you might have been in trouble,” she teased before pressing her lips to his lightly. That got a tiny smile out of him that she felt against her mouth before he trailed kisses down her throat tenderly, erasing the lingering memory on her skin of the knife that had been pressed there. When his lips reached the collar of her coat, he took a step back from her and turned to grab his henley that she had been sleeping in lately.  

He handed it to her and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “You probably want to shower.” She nodded and he continued, “I’m going to go get ready for bed while you do that, and then I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Okay.” She reached for his arm before he could walk away. “I love you.”

“I love you,” he echoed, his voice thick with emotion.

In the shower, she winced as she assessed her body. Just as she suspected, there were several dark bruises from where she had been grabbed roughly as she was being taken from MIT and held by Cooper earlier. She was glad they would be hidden by her shirt. She didn’t want Oliver to see them and be even more upset than he already was.

Once she had finished in the bathroom, she stepped out to see Oliver already settled into her bed.

Crawling over to him, she relaxed into his secure embrace, tangling up her legs with his as he rubbed soothing circles on her back.

“You know, now that I’ve been drugged, kidnapped, and held at knifepoint, telling my parents about us really doesn’t seem all that scary,” she whispered as her eyes started to fall closed. If he replied, she didn’t hear it before she slipped into a deep sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! We've made it to the penultimate chapter (not counting the epilogue) of this fic!! Some pretty big stuff, that has been building up for a while, happens in this one, so I'll let you get to reading... Enjoy!

Upon first waking up she thought for a fraction of a second, with her sleep addled brain, that she was still in the warehouse. Relief flooded her when it registered that the arm around her was Oliver’s and that she was in her soft, warm bed. 

She shifted a little to tuck herself in closer to him and inhaled sharply when she put too much pressure on one of the bruises on her upper arm.

His eyes blinked open, filled with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied dismissively, not wanting to worry him. “I just bumped one of my bruises.”

“Where?”

She tilted her chin towards her shoulder, “It must be from when they grabbed me at MIT.”

Anger flickered across his face and she lifted a hand to caress his cheek in an effort to calm him. There was nowhere to channel that anger with all three of her captors behind bars. Getting what they deserved, not just for what they had done to her, but also for the long list of cyber-crimes that police had been trying to pin on them for months and now finally could with evidence from their computers at the warehouse. Trying to branch out into kidnapping, something they weren’t that great at considering the mistakes that had been made, instead of just sticking to hacking, had been their downfall.

“May I see?” he asked softy, propping himself up on his forearm, and she nodded affirmatively.

Carefully, he undid a few of the buttons on his henley she was wearing so that he could pull the neckline further down over her shoulder to bare her upper arm to him. Dipping his head down, he brushed his lips tenderly across the dark purple mark marring her skin.

“Do you have any more?”

“A few. My other arm, my waist. My face, obviously. I’m not looking forward to having to explain to random guests at my mom’s holiday party why I look like I got into a fight.” They had decided to keep the details of what had happened to her under wraps to avoid it blowing up in the media. Everything had happened so quickly that most people weren’t even aware she had been missing. While she was grateful that meant she wasn’t going to be met with a mob of reporters asking probing questions as soon as she stepped outside, she knew she was still going to have to explain what makeup and her clothes weren’t going to cover. The dress she had bought for the party was sleeveless. And gorgeous. She wasn’t interested in finding a plan B.

“You don’t owe them any explanation.” He stroked her skin gently with his knuckles. “You shouldn’t have to relive that experience.”

She frowned. “I don’t want them to jump to some completely ridiculous assumption, like that my boyfriend was beating me up.” His jaw clenched. “Sorry, that was a bad example. But as you know, the people of our lovely hometown can be terrible gossips. It wouldn’t be the first rumor that got spread around to compensate for my very non-scandalous, and therefore apparently non-exciting, rich girl behavior. I mean, in the spring, just before you were hired, there was speculation that I was dating my co-worker. Who’s gay.”

“I think I actually saw that article when I was doing some research on you.”

“Were you trying to decide if you could handle me?” she teased, getting a smile out of him. “Seriously though, that’s why I wasn’t interested in a bodyguard and adding to the appearance that I was some celebrity that needed to be gossiped about. I’m really grateful for Cat Grant helping to turn my PR towards a direction that I’m more comfortable with, but there’s still a lot of trashy reporters who I’m sure have been anxiously awaiting my return to Starling. They’re going to be ecstatic when they find out I’ve been secretly dating my bodyguard for months.”

“They don’t have to know.”

“What?” Her brow furrowed. “I thought we agreed we were going to tell people over the holidays…”

He took a hold of her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles that were a little battered from connecting with Cooper’s jaw twice. “Our families, our friends, yes. But if everything goes the way we’re hoping, I’m still going to be your bodyguard, so maybe it’s not such a bad idea to keep up strictly professional appearances for the public.”

“Hmmm. You’re probably right. And that might make it easier to get John on our side. Are you sure you’d be okay with that though? I don’t want you to feel like I’m embarrassed by our relationship or—“

“Felicity, you’ve never made me feel like that. You share so much of your life, I’m okay with our relationship being something you want to keep from people, and their opinions. At least until my contract is up, like we discussed originally.”

“Okay. I like that plan. I mean, I guess it all still depends on what my parents, and John, have to say. But I’m feeling optimistic.” She had just been through a mildly traumatic kidnapping experience; she didn’t think her parents would be so cruel as to take away the person who had brought her home. “You know, in all the craziness with the police yesterday, I missed how you and Dinah actually found me…” Her eyes widened with realization as she recounted something. “The phone call. You pinged Charlotte’s phone, didn’t you?”

He grinned proudly, “Yep.”

She returned his grin. “And here I thought you didn’t learn anything from that lesson because you were too busy being a flirt.”  

“I’m good at multi-tasking,” he replied before leaning in for a kiss.

* * *

“Miss Smoak, Mr. Queen. We’re approaching Starling, please prepare yourselves for landing,” the pilot’s voice came across the intercom.

“I guess that means I need to return to my own seat,” Felicity remarked, moving off of his lap where she had been curled up for the past hour of the flight. He could sense that she was excited to be home, but also nervous at who might be waiting for her on the ground.

When she was settled in her seat and buckled for landing, he took her hand in his. “Remember, John said that no one except for family knows when your flight is coming in. But, if press does happen to show up, between your parent’s security detail, John, and I, no one is getting close enough to you to get pictures.”

She nodded gratefully and interlocked her fingers with his as the plane started it’s descent. As they got close to the ground, he looked out the window and could make out the cluster of people waiting beside the runway. Even though he had just seen his sister at Thanksgiving, he was eager to hug her. Tommy was doing a rotation at the hospital and couldn’t make it to the airport, but with them sharing his old apartment during the time he was home, he would be guaranteed to see him later.

“Not that I haven’t enjoyed being in New York and Massachusetts, but it’s good to be home.”

Felicity hummed in agreement, leaning over him to look out the window as they made their way to the end of the runway. Once the pilot gave them clearance to de-board, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out into the aisle, a bounce in her step as he followed her to the door. An airport attendant had moved the stairs into place and before he could even offer a hand, she hurried down them to run over to her family.

“Mom! Dad!” He watched as they gathered her up into a hug, pressing kisses to the top of her head and reassuring themselves of the reality of her safety, much as he had when he found her at the warehouse.

Once he had hugged Thea and greeted John, he turned back to Felicity’s parents. He was about to open his mouth for a profuse apology when Donna flung her arms around him in a hug that sent him staggering back a step in surprise. 

“Thank you so much for bringing our baby girl home safely.” Her eyes were watery with tears when she pulled back. “I don’t even want to imagine how much more they might have hurt her if she didn’t have you to find her as quickly as you did.”

He hadn’t been expecting a thank you, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to respond.

“I was just doing my job Ms. Smoak, I’m sorry I let them take her in the first place.”

She shook her head, “Felicity told us what happened. We’ve tried to make her understand why it’s important for her to have you with her at all times, you can’t take the blame for her stubbornness.”

“Well—“ Before he could defend her, he caught her eye over her mom’s shoulder. She gave him a look that he interpreted to mean _“just let me take the heat here”_ and he closed his mouth.

John spoke up, “I hate to disrupt, but I think it’s best that we get Felicity home now before someone from the press gets tipped off that one of your jets arrived and they come out to investigate.”

They all nodded in agreement and started to make their way towards the cars that had been brought around behind the airport. Falling into step with John, he felt a nervous energy running through him. On the plane ride, he and Felicity had both agreed that they needed to disclose their relationship that night. While he knew he would be relieved when everything was out in the open, it didn’t change the fact that his stomach was currently in knots.

“Thank you.”

He glanced over at John in surprise, “For what?”

“For not making me a liar for telling her parents all those months ago that you were the right man for the job.”

“But—“ His brow furrowed, “But I messed up. I didn’t protect her and she got hurt.”

“According to her, I should see the other guy,” he remarked, a hint of amusement in his voice. “But seriously Oliver, you don’t have to keep beating yourself up for a mistake I know you won’t make again. The more important thing is how you handled the consequence of the mistake. You found her before the police would’ve even started looking. You brought her home safely. Everyone is happy.” John clapped him on the back. “Including me. Because if they wanted to fire you, I would not have enjoyed the potentially impossible task of finding someone else that Felicity is willing to put up with. You and I both know if she had Rob with her she would’ve run off and gotten herself kidnapped a lot sooner.”

Oliver let out a dry laugh. At the Rob comment and the perceived notion that Felicity still only tolerated his presence.

_Tonight is going to be interesting._

* * *

When they arrived at the mansion they were greeted in the foyer by Caroline, Lyla, and the twins.

“Oh my goodness you guys are getting so big,” she gushed, dropping down to her knees to gather JJ and Sara up into her arms for a hug.  

“Aunt ‘Licity, you have a boo boo,” Sara commented before kissing her cheek that had been cut.

“Oh, why thank you.” She smiled at her. “You made it feel all better.”

Sara giggled and JJ proceeded to give her a kiss as well, as to not be outdone by his sister.

Rising to her feet again, she received hugs from both Lyla and Caroline.  

“Oh Caroline whatever you made for dinner smells amazing,” she remarked with a sigh.

“All of your favorites. Including pie for dessert.”

She reached over to grab Oliver’s arm, “Oliver made me a blueberry pie the other night. You would have been so proud Caroline, it was delicious.” 

Caroline gave them a knowing smile, patting Oliver’s shoulder, “I better watch out, I’m going to get replaced as her favorite chef.” She then turned to address the whole group, “Dinner will be ready to eat in 30 minutes.”  

“In the meantime, I’m ummm… going to take my things up to my room and freshen up,” she informed everyone before looking to Oliver. “Will you help me bring my bags up?”

John reached for one of her suitcases, “I’ll help too.”

“No!” Everyone turned to look at her in confusion. “I mean, no thank you. It’s fine. I think Oliver and I can handle it.”

He pulled his hand away, “Okay…”  

“We’ll be right back down.” Grabbing the suitcase and making sure Oliver was following behind, she swept up the stairs.

“That was smooth,” Oliver commented when they were in her room.

She cringed, “Sorry. I just wanted to talk to you privately before dinner and make sure we were still on the same page about having the talk with my parents and John tonight.”

“Are you thinking you want to do it during dinner?” he asked warily, setting down her suitcase.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, she pursed her lips thoughtfully. “The extra people might be a good buffer against us potentially getting yelled at. But maybe since it’s sort of a professional matter, we shouldn’t handle it around the family dinner table.” He sat down next to her and she leaned her head against his shoulder, “I wish this didn’t have to be complicated.”

“Hey.” He took her hand in his. “It’s not complicated. I love you and I want to be with you. No matter what they say, that’s not going to change.”

She nuzzled his shoulder, “I love you too.”

The sound of the door opening had them springing from the bed.

“Easy there, lovebirds. It’s just me,” Sara announced, holding her hands up as she walked in, and they sat back down. She gasped, “Oh my. You didn’t mention on the phone that you look like I do after I’ve spent an hour in the make-up chair.”

She laughed dryly, “Unfortunately, these aren’t going to wash off in the shower tonight.” Shrugging, she added, “It could be a lot worse though.”

“You’re right. Honestly I’m kind of glad no one told me what was going on until after you were already safe, because I would have been a mess.” Sara came over and stretched out on the couch facing her bed, “So is tonight the night? Are you going to tell them? Because you promised I could be in the room where it happens….”

“Kudos for the Hamilton reference—“

“I’m still bitter you saw it without me,” Sara muttered.

“—and yes, you can be there.” She narrowed her eyes, “As long as you remember the previously agreed upon conditions.”

“Right,” Sara nodded, a teasing glint in her eye. “Are there any other words off limits, or just _‘banging’_?”

Oliver coughed and she shook her head, a blush rising in her cheeks, “Just be helpful.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll be supportive. I’m firmly team Olicity.”

“What?” she and Oliver both responded in sync, brows furrowed.

“Olicity? Oliver plus Felicity…” Sara explained. “Your ship name?”

She rolled her eyes, _“Seriously?”_

Sara tilted her head back against the couch and sighed, “I work on a tv show, this is my life now.”

“What is a ship name?” Oliver asked, still confused.

She patted his thigh, “Don’t worry about it babe.”

* * *

Felicity was pushing bites of pie around her plate when she could no longer hold it in any longer.

“So there’s something that I wanted to tell you all about,” she blurted out, causing the dining room to fall silent, except for the sound of the twins giggling and making a mess of their pie, as everyone looked at her. Sara gave her an encouraging nod and Oliver reached for her hand under the table. “Well, actually something Oliver and I wanted to tell you all about.”

She could’ve sworn her mom sat up a little straighter in her seat at that.

“I’m not really sure how to say this. I mean, I rehearsed in my head a few times, but it never sounded the way I wanted it to because I always felt like I was apologizing and that didn’t seem right so—“

“Honey,” her mom interrupted her. “Please just say it before I do.”

She started as her words registered, “You—you know?”

“Of course I know.” She inspected her nails. “Mothers know everything.”

“But you didn’t say anything…”  

“I knew you would talk to me about it when you were ready.”

“Uhh… for those of us without motherly intuition, can you please still explain what’s going on?” John asked.

“Right umm…” She took a deep breath and squeezed Oliver’s hand before smiling, “I love Oliver. Which might come as a surprise to some of you who didn’t already know, since I used to complain about him all the time. But things have changed a lot between us. And I know he’s older than me, and there’s a certain way that our relationship is supposed to be because he’s my bodyguard, and professionalism is important and all that, but—“

“Oliver,” John interrupted her. “I need to talk to you in private. Now.”

She frowned, “John… anything you have to say to Oliver you can say to me.”   

“No.” He stood up and tilted his head towards the doorway to the dining room. “Oliver.”

Oliver reluctantly let go of her hand before backing his chair up to stand and follow John out.

When they had left, she looked around the table at the various expressions on people’s faces.

Sara, Thea, and her mom looked sympathetic. Lyla looked uncomfortable and had busied herself with cleaning off the twins’ messy faces.

Her dad looked entirely unfazed by the whole thing and she asked him, “What are you thinking?”

“Well, your grandmother called me a scoundrel and forbade your mother and I from seeing each other. She was probably right about me, but clearly we didn’t listen to her.” He smiled fondly at her, “You’re enough like the both of us for me to know that my opinion, or anyone’s, isn’t going to matter. But… I don’t see any reason for me to even try and discourage you from being with Oliver if he makes you happy and treats you the way you deserve to be treated.”

“You’ve had to grow up fast with your position at the company, it would be unfair of us to treat you like a child who can’t handle a mature relationship,” her mom chimed in. “You know I’ve always wanted you to find someone who appreciates you for the strong, intelligent, woman you are.” She sighed, “Not to mention, you and Oliver will make me the most beautiful grandchildren.”

Sara and Thea burst into laughter and she groaned, “Mom!”

Her mom put her hand to her chest and blinked innocently, “What?”

“You kinda ruined the moment. But I really appreciate both of you being supportive.” She looked towards the doorway where Oliver and John had departed and whispered, “I can only hope that conversation is going just as well.”

* * *

“What were you thinking Oliver?” John asked angrily as soon as he shut the door to Felicity’s father’s study. “When I challenged you to convince her not to hate you, I didn’t mean you should take it this far.”

“I—“

“And how long has this been going on? She’s barely eighteen,” he growled.

He held up his hands defensively, “Nothing happened until several weeks after her birthday, I swear. I know that you’re protective of her, but you know that I am too, so I don’t understand why you’re acting like she’s some naive little girl that I took advantage of. She’s capable of making her own decisions and she’s the one who initiated things between us.”  

Sort of. There was the whole incident on the night of the Palmer Tech party, but he would have been willing to keep on acting like that hadn’t happened if she hadn’t kissed him and told him she wanted to be with him.

John crossed his arms, “You shouldn’t have encouraged it.”

“You think I don’t know that?” His shoulders slumped, “I fought against my feelings for her for so long because I know that being with her like this is unprofessional but I—“

“You’re damn right it is. You signed a contract, you represent me, and all the other guys that work for me. How do you think this reflects on the business? Do you think other parents are going to trust us with their daughters once it gets out that I let one of my guys disrespect professional boundaries?”

“It’s not going to get out,” he muttered but John ignored him.

“Even if her parents are okay with your relationship with her, that doesn’t mean that most parents in a similar situation would be. You’re my friend Oliver, but you’re also my employee, and I don’t see how I can just not adhere you to the standard I’ve set for everyone who signs on with me.”

“So are you asking me to resign? Is that what you’re asking?” He took a step closer to him. “You said you trusted me with her. Why can’t that be about more than just her safety? Why can’t you trust me with this?”

His voice softened, “Look, Oliver. Under other circumstances, I could be happy about this. You’re a good man, and I know that you genuinely care about Felicity, but—“

“No,” he interrupted him. “I don’t just care about Felicity, I love her. I’m _in_ love with her. For the first time in my life, I understand what that feels like. And I will choose being her boyfriend over being her bodyguard in a heartbeat, if you make me choose. But you said it yourself, you don’t want to have to replace me. So maybe you could give Felicity and I a chance to explain to you how we want to handle our relationship. Because it doesn’t have to compromise anyone’s reputation. Please.”

John was silent for a few seconds that felt like an eternity before he finally sighed, “Fine. I’m open to a discussion.”

He released a breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding, “Thank you.”

* * *

“So that’s why we think it would be wise to keep our relationship private until after I graduate and Oliver’s contract is up,” Felicity concluded after sharing everything that her and Oliver had talked about that morning, and before, with those gathered around the table. “We’re really sorry for not disclosing what was going on sooner, but I think we just needed some time to figure all this out, to figure out if it was worth it, if what we felt for each other was real.” She looked over at John, “Remember how I asked you when you were interviewing candidates, all those months ago, to find me the perfect person?”

He nodded, a small smile starting to appear on his face, “I do.”

“Well you did. And I know you were just looking for someone to be my bodyguard, but…”

“But honestly Mr. Diggle, you should have known this was going to happen,” Sara finished her sentence for her, patting John’s arm. “I mean seriously, if he spent every waking moment with Felicity and _didn’t_ fall in love with her, I would think something was wrong with him. Or that he’s just not into girls. But obviously he is, since he’s in love with Felicity.” Felicity shot her a _‘where are you going with this?’_ look and she continued, “What I’m trying to say is, they’re meant to be. A few years from now I’ll probably be the stunt double for the actress who plays Felicity in the movie adaptation of their romance, because this is so Hollywood. I mean, _The Bodyguard_ came out like twenty-five years ago. It’s about time to bring that trope back. So we should just let them be happy together, right?”

An amused expression flickered across his face, “I’m feeling inclined to do that Miss Lance.” He turned his attention towards them, “I apologize for reacting as harshly as I did. You’ve obviously put thought into the implications of your relationship and it was unfair for me to assume certain things. I care about both of you, and if being together makes you happy, and doesn’t compromise Oliver’s ability to fulfill his obligations as your bodyguard, then I’m not going to stand in the way.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, reaching across the table to take his hand.

John smiled at her and then looked at Oliver, “But if you hurt her, they will never find your body.”

Lyla clapped her hands together, “Okay well, we should probably call it a night.” She tipped her head towards the twins, “They’re about to turn into little monsters soon if we don’t get home and start their bedtime routine. It’s good to have you home Felicity, and I guess we’ll see you all again tomorrow night for your holiday party Donna.”

“Yes,” her mom confirmed excitedly. “With Felicity safe and sound, the show can go on.”

They all got up from the table, exchanging goodbyes as Thea left with the Diggles to get a ride back to her Aunt and Uncle’s house. Sara had to go to the train station to pick up Laurel, who was coming into town for the holidays, but promised she would be over early tomorrow to get ready for the party together.

“So how’d I do?” she asked, giving her a hug.

“Very supportive, and I appreciated you not saying anything to make me want the floor to swallow me,” she whispered in response. “Especially since my mom had that part covered. As usual.”

Sara laughed. “I love your mom. And I’m glad I could help. See you tomorrow Felicity.”

She blew her a kiss as she headed out the door, “See ya!”

Finding herself alone in the foyer with Oliver, she turned to him and sighed happily, “We survived.”

He grinned, “We did.” Striding over to her, his facial expression changed to one of concern as he placed his hands gently on her shoulders, “You got a lot of hugs today. Are your bruises still bothering you as much as they were this morning?”

She gave him a sheepish look, “Yeah. But I didn’t want to make anyone feel bad when they were just so happy to see me.” He frowned and she assured him, “I’ll get some ice from Caroline before I go to bed. You staying the night?”

He looked hesitant, “I’ve never slept over here…”

“Well there’s a first time for everything. But if you would rather go home and see Tommy I understand, I just—“ She looked down at her feet, “After everything that happened at the warehouse, I really don’t want to be alone…”

“Are you sure your parents won’t mind? We just sprung a lot on them tonight… although apparently, your mom already knew.”  

“Yeah, and they also know that we’ve been living together for months now so...”

He still looked a little unsure so she walked over to peek her head into the living room where her parents were sitting, “Oliver and I are headed to bed. See you in the morning.”

“Okay baby. Love you,” her mom replied.

“It’s good to have you home safe sweetheart,” her dad added.

“Love you too. I’m happy to be home,” Returning to Oliver, she looped her arm through his, “Not even fazed.”

* * *

“Remember when you tried to convince me that you had burnt yourself with your curling iron to cover up the fact that Oliver had given you a hickey?” her mom asked.      

Sara started cackling from where she was perched on the edge of her bathtub and she glared at her reflection in the mirror.

“I had a feeling you didn’t buy that,” she sighed, watching as her mom let a lock of her hair fall from the curling iron. The three of them were gathered in her bathroom, getting ready for the holiday party that night, and her mom was in the middle of giving her an up-do after doing her best to cover the bruise on her face.

She patted her shoulder. “It was a valiant effort. But I know what a curling iron burn looks like and it was _definitely_ not what you were sporting on your neck,” she teased. “It was cute to see you all flustered though, so I played along.”

“So is that how you figured out that I was in love with Oliver?” she asked skeptically. It seemed like a bit of a reach to assume that, just because she had been kissing someone… passionately, that she was in love with her bodyguard.

“Oh no. At first I thought maybe you had met someone at school. But, then I saw you with Oliver.” Her mom smiled at their reflections in the mirror, “Honey, you light up when you’re around him. I really don’t know how you’ve managed to keep things between you two a secret from anyone with the heart eyes you give each other.”  

She bit her lip shyly, “But we will keep it a secret. I promise.”

Her mom started to braid a section of her hair, “Oh, I don’t care if you shout it from the rooftops. But I think you have good reasons to keep things private, your agreement with John being the most important one.”

“Yeah. I never wanted this to hurt my relationship with him.”

“I don’t think it did,” her mom reassured her. “I think he was just struggling with the fact that he felt like he couldn’t just be happy for you, because he had to think about how to handle it as Oliver’s boss. But that’s all sorted out now.” She pinned back the braided piece of hair. “So don’t be all gloomy, we’re having a party, remember?”

Once her hair was finished, her mom left to go finish getting ready in her own bedroom. Meanwhile, she carefully slipped on her emerald green gown and strappy gold heels.

{[See Felicity's outfit here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/879094066817978369)}

“How do I look?” she asked Sara, nervously smoothing her hands down her bruised arms.

Sara took her hands in hers, “Gorgeous. Don’t worry about your battle scars, most people will feel too awkward to point them out. Besides, they kind of just make you look like some warrior princess.”

That brought a smile to her face, “Thanks.”  

Her mom returned to her room then, “You’re just missing one thing. A little early Hanukkah present from your father and I.” She held up a velvet box and opened it to reveal a delicate gold necklace with tiny stars along the chain.

“Mom it’s beautiful, thank you.” Turning around, she let her mom fasten it on her.

“You know Mama Smoak, as your honorary daughter, I feel like I should get some presents too every once in a while,” Sara teased.

Her mom raised an eyebrow, “Oh really? Then I guess it’s a good thing I came out of the jewelry store with two boxes the other day…”

Sara’s eyes widened, “What? No I was just kidding—“

Procuring a second velvet box from where she had sat it down on Felicity’s desk, her mom opened it up to show Sara the silver counterpart to her necklace.

“I’m proud of both of my girls, and the way you’ve taken on the new chapters in your lives these past few months. Even though I’ve missed you both dearly.”

“Awww…” Her and Sara both gathered her mom in for a group hug. “We’ve missed you too.”

There was a soft knock on the door and Caroline peeked her head in, “Sorry to interrupt, but guests are beginning to arrive.”

Her mom nodded, “Thank you Caroline, we’ll be right down.” 

At the top of the staircase, she looked down to see Oliver waiting at the bottom for her. He had upgraded his usual suit to a tux for the occasion and she grinned at how handsome he looked.

Sara nudged her, “Try to remember that, in front of everyone, he’s just your bodyguard.”  

She sighed, “I know.”

“But you should definitely corner him someplace private later so you can properly appreciate those suspenders,” her mom commented from her other side.

“Okay… we’re walking down the stairs now so let’s keep those sorts of comments to ourselves…”

“I’m just saying, they’re great for grabbing on to.” Her father joined Oliver then at the foot of the stairs, wearing a tux as well. “Oh look, I’ll be enjoying myself later too.” 

Both her and Sara groaned in disgust and she shoved that mental picture out of her head as they made it to the bottom.

“You look incredible,” Oliver whispered, caressing her arm gently.

“Thank you. You’re looking rather handsome yourself,” she whispered back.

Walking into the living room, that had been cleared of its usual furniture and decorated lavishly for the party, they kept a respectable distance from each other. While he found Tommy and Thea to talk to, she fulfilled her hostess duties. Mingling with the guests, she politely answered their questions about how she was doing in school or her favorite things about working in New York.  Every so often she could feel his gaze on her and she would meet his eyes to give him a smile or wink at him. 

Or… try to wink.

He had told her once that she was incapable of winking and it always looked like an awkward blink. But also, that it was adorable and endearing. So she forgave him for laughing at her.

After about an hour or so, couples began to dance and she found herself along the edge the room, watching and wondering if it would be okay for her and Oliver to dance. Professionally.

_Not like Dancing with the Stars, professionally. Like, two people with a professional relationship, professionally._

“Miss Smoak.” Tommy appeared at her side as she was contemplating this. “Would you like to dance?”

“It’s Felicity.” She glanced over at him and held out her hand. “And sure.”

Taking her hand, he wrapped his other arm high around her waist, “Don’t worry, I’ll be a gentleman.”

She huffed in amusement, “Thanks.”

He lowered his voice as he led her around the dance floor, “So… I heard about you and Oliver.”

“You going to stop hitting on me now?” she asked, remembering his attempts to charm her when he was in New York for Thanksgiving.

He sighed dramatically, “I guess I should.” Growing more serious, he added, “Please be good to him. He acts all tough guy, but he’s—“

“Actually a total softie who likes to bake pies and cuddle?” she supplied.

Tommy chuckled softly, “Yeah.”

“I know he’s gone through of a lot of rough stuff over the past few years…”

“He has. Which is why I’m glad to see him so happy now.” He inclined his head towards her, “And I think a lot of that is thanks to you.”  Oliver approached them then and he remarked, “Speak of the devil.”  

Oliver raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment, instead asking, “May I cut in?”

“Oliver, I’m flattered you want to dance with me but I don’t think we should let this fine lady hanging,” Tommy joked before releasing Felicity to him. “I’m going to go talk up that hot brunette over there, catch you two later.”

They watched him as he walked off.

“Isn’t that Sara’s big sister?”

She nodded, “Yup. Good luck with that Tommy. You’re going to need it.”

Oliver shook his head in amusement and then took her in his arms. They danced to a few songs, during which she tried to keep an acceptable distance between them, before she pouted in frustration.

“What’s wrong? Am I that bad of a dancer?”

“No…” she led him through the crowd of people and out into the empty hallway that led to the kitchen where they could still hear the music filtering in. Once she was sure they were alone, she looped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his to sway to the music. Trailing kisses along his neck and jawline, she whispered in his ear, “I just wanted to dance like this.”

“Mmm.” He slid his hands that were around her waist lower down her back. “Okay.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, just enjoying the moment of privacy before Oliver spoke up again, “I almost forgot to tell you, I talked to Shado today. From my old gym. She said one of her cycling instructors is away for the holidays and I can pick up one of her classes next week, if you still want to see that.”

Her eyes lit up excitedly, “I most certainly do.”

“You think you can handle it?” There was a teasing glint in his eye. “I’m a tough instructor…”

“Oh, I think I can handle you.” She slid her hands down his chest to hook her fingers around his suspenders and tug him down to kiss her.

They were interrupted by the sound of footsteps that they discovered belonged to Caroline, who startled when she saw them. “Oh! I’m sorry, I was just helping the caterers refill some of the dishes. I didn’t know you two were back here.”

“It’s okay Caroline,” Oliver assured her. “We should probably head back in now anyway, before anyone notices we’re gone.”

Reluctantly, Felicity agreed and followed him back into the living room to resume playing hostess.

When the party had wound down for the night and the few who people remained were talking to her parents, she sought out Oliver again and led him upstairs.

In the hallway outside her bedroom, she backed up against the wall and looked up at him, “Even though I feel better now that we’ve told our friends and families, it still kind of sucks that we have to pretend we’re not a couple when we’re around other people.”

He stepped in close to her and took her face in his hands, “I know.”

“But… at the same time, sneaking around can be fun.”

“It can,” he agreed, leaning in to kiss her.

She returned the kiss eagerly, opening herself to him and sliding her tongue against his. His hand gently ran down the side of her body before slipping under the fabric of her dress, where the slit began at her thigh, so that he could lift her up.

His fingers dug into her bare flesh as she wrapped her legs around his waist and he pressed her against the wall with his body.

“I’m not hurting you, am I?” he muttered against her mouth and she breathed out a ‘no’ in response before continuing to kiss him.

All she could feel was a warm sensation flooding her body and numbing her senses to anything but him.  

“Alright lover boy, time for you to go home.”

And then suddenly that feeling was gone.

The broke apart at the interruption, both breathing heavily, and when he lowered her back down to her feet she didn’t miss the way his ears had turned a little pink. Her mouth quirked up into an amused smile at how quickly he had turned into shy little boy at Sara walking in on them.

Sara sidled up to her and looped an arm through hers before patting Oliver’s chest, “You’ve gotten her all to yourself for the past few months, it’s my turn for a sleepover.”

Felicity laughed and shoved her friend into her room, “Give me one second to say goodnight, and then I’ll be right in.”

Once Sara had closed the door behind her, she wrapped her arms around Oliver’s waist and rolled up onto her toes to give him a chaste kiss.

“Are you planning on going anywhere tomorrow?” he asked, keeping her in his embrace and rubbing her back.

She shook her head, “No, I’m going to lay low and just relax. So enjoy a day off. Spend some time with your sister and Tommy. Sara’s right, we need to share each other a little bit.”

“Okay.” He rested his forehead against hers. “But if you change your mind, call me. Please. Don’t go out without me. Or at least take one of your parents’ guys with you.”

“I will. Don’t worry.” She gave him one last kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Goodnight.”

When they finally let each other go, she slipped into her bedroom where Sara was changing out of her dress.  

“Okay. I’m all yours now,” she declared, staring to pull the bobby pins out her hair.

“Sorry for interrupting, but I could tell that in a few more seconds, your dress was going to be coming off, and I just didn’t feel like spending the night in the guest room.”

“Uhh no, it’s good. I’m actually glad you stopped things before it got to that point.”

Sara raised an eyebrow at her, “You two haven’t slept together yet, have you?”

“Well… that depends on your definition of the word ‘slept.’” She turned around so that Sara could unzip her dress for her. “We’re umm… taking things slow.”

“What’s your definition of slow? Because what I just walked in on was pretty steamy…”

She twisted around to face her and let out a nervous laugh, “Uhhh—“

Sara held up her hands, “Hey. I’m sorry. Not my business. You can do, or not do, whatever you want with him.”

Sinking her teeth into her bottom lip, she looked down at her dress pooled around her feet and admitted, “I’m just nervous. I don’t want to disappoint him. I mean, sometimes I’m really confident around him. Most of the time actually. But sometimes, I become like hyper aware of him being older and more experienced and I feel like a little girl and—“ She sighed, “This is all so new for me. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve seen one of the supermodel hot girls he’s dated before me, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to compete with his past.”

Sara frowned and reached for her hands, “Felicity, you’re not competing with anyone. Oliver is in love with _you_. He’s very clearly attracted to _you_. So, you don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for, but I don’t think you should be afraid that you aren’t everything that he wants.”

She sniffled, blinking back a few tears, “Really?”

“Really. That boy is so in love that he’ll probably cry the first time he sees you naked.”

That caused her to laugh and she reached for a pillow to hit Sara with.

She shrieked and grabbed her own pillow, “Are you sure you want to start a fight with me? I am basically a ninja assassin…”

“Well, according to you, I’m a warrior princess. So I would say we’re pretty evenly matched.”

Sara’s grin faded when her eyes flicked down to the bruises that were visible now that she was in just her bra and underwear. “I don’t want to hurt you. They already did a good enough job with that.”

Her shoulders slumped and she dropped her pillow. “Mmm… but the physical stuff really wasn’t the most painful of what happened. Being betrayed by someone I thought was my friend hurt far worse.” She sunk down onto her bed and patted the mattress next to her for Sara to join her. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

She quickly summarized everything that Charlotte had said to her in the warehouse before concluding with, “I guess everything she said about us being the same person just got me thinking, like… Do you think I would have ended up like her if our situations had been switched? If my Dad had never come back to my Mom and I, and we stayed in Vegas, and I didn’t have the life that I have now?”

“Are you asking me if you would have been a crazy vengeful bitch if you had grown up without your dad?”

“Well—”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth. Even crazier than you thinking you would somehow disappoint Oliver.” Sara angled her body towards her to meet her eyes. “Other people’s choices affect us, but they don’t define us unless we let them. Charlotte let what happened with her father ruin her life, but I’ve never known you to be someone who just accepts things. Even if your life had been like hers, even if your Dad hadn’t been around, I still think you would’ve grown up to do the amazing things you’re doing now. Running a company, inspiring people. Because that’s who you are.”    

“Yeah?”

Sara nodded, “Yeah. Of course, you probably wouldn’t have been quite as cool if you had grown up in Vegas, because you wouldn’t have had me as a best friend, but you still wouldn’t have been evil.”

She laughed, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now are there any other irrational fears we need to talk about, or are you good?”

“I’m good.” She leaned in to give her a hug, grateful that Sara was a friend that she never had to worry that she couldn’t trust. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I would love to hear your thoughts!! :)


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well friends, this is it, the final full chapter of Keep it Professional. (There will be an epilogue going up on Wednesday as the official conclusion though, so keep your eyes out for that... and a little sneak peek at my next AU :)) You might have noticed that I've bumped the rating for this fic up to M, but since it's been T up to this point, I've marked out the scene that required the change in rating with a double line break so that if smut is not your thing, you can skip over it and still finish out the story. I hope you enjoy the chapter and as always I would love to hear what you thought! Y'all have been such an encouragement to me with your positive feedback over the past couple of months as I've been working on this and I really appreciate it!

**January**

At the sound of footsteps approaching, Oliver asked, “What do you want for breakfast, babe?”

“A bacon and cheese omelet,” Tommy answered, walking into the kitchen in his scrubs. “Thank you, babe.”

He shook his head in feigned exasperation before brushing past him to peek his head into his bedroom. Felicity had crashed back at his place the night before after they had gone ice skating with Tommy and Thea, and she had still been asleep when he had gotten up to investigate the contents of the fridge for breakfast possibilities. She wasn’t sleeping now.

“What are you doing?” he growled.

A little _“yelp”_ escaped her and she looked up with wide eyes and a sheepish expression. Closing her laptop quickly, she blinked innocently, “Nothing… Definitely not work.”

“You better not be working,” he chastised, reaching for her hands to tug her up out of bed. “Sundays are supposed to be your days off. C’mon let me make you some breakfast.”

“Oooh I saw this recipe on Pinterest for cinnamon roll pancakes…” she began as he followed her out to the kitchen.

Upon checking the cabinets, they discovered that there wasn’t enough flour or sugar to make the recipe she had requested.

“It’s okay,” she sighed. “Anything you make will be good.”

“Uh-uh. I’m making you those pancakes.” He reached for his keys that were sitting on the countertop. “The grocery store is only a few minutes away.”

“Wait, I’ll come with you. Just give me a second to put my clothes on.” She looked down at her small frame swimming in his t-shirt and a pair of his sweatpants with the waistband rolled down a few times. “Not sure this is a look I should be potentially photographed in.”

“Oh I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Might be interesting to see what kind of story they come up with to accompany those pictures.”

She swatted his arm in annoyance and he grinned, reaching for her to pepper her face with kisses and tickle her side before she untangled herself to scurry back to his bedroom.

“You two are disgusting,” Tommy commented from where he was filling a thermos with coffee. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you man, but would it kill you to just tone the lovey-dovey down a little bit. Some of us here are single,” he lamented. 

“Sorry,” he replied unapologetically and Tommy just huffed. “What about Laurel? I thought you two hit it off at the Smoak’s party…”

“Yeah, we did. But she’s back in Central City now for her law firm internship and I’m working my ass off at the hospital trying to graduate med school. Makes it a little difficult to find time to deploy my charm and she’s playing a little hard to get.”

Felicity returned from getting changed then and slipped on her boots that were by the door, announcing, “I’m ready to go.”

Oliver clapped Tommy on the shoulder. “Don’t give up. You said it yourself, ladies can’t resist doctors, right?”

Tommy scowled at him for throwing his words from a few months ago back at him and he just tossed him a wink before following Felicity out of the apartment.

“Did you know there’s like a million different pancake recipes on Pinterest?” Felicity remarked when they were in the car and he glanced up in the rearview mirror to see her scrolling on her phone. “Nutella stuffed! Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting for syrup!” She sighed, “Why did I not get on this website sooner? We should try them all. Although, then I might have to take more cycling classes if I want to still fit into my clothes, and I’m not sure I’m up for that. My glutes have still not recovered.”

He chuckled as he recalled her first cycling experience at the class he taught the other week.

* * *

 

>   
>  Opening the door to Jade Dragon, he led Felicity into his old place of employment.
> 
> When they walked in, Shado looked up from the front desk and a smile spread across her face, “Oliver!” She came over to give him a hug, “It’s so good to see you. I’m glad this worked out for you to get to come in and teach a class.”
> 
> “It’s good to see you too.” Turning to Felicity, he introduced them, “Felicity, this is Shado. Shado, this is Felicity.”
> 
> Shado took her hand, and greeted her warmly, “It’s nice to finally meet you Felicity. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
> 
> Felicity returned her smile, “All good things, I hope.”  
> 
> _Not in the beginning._
> 
> When he first started his job and Felicity was determined to drive him crazy, he had vented quite a bit to Shado during his morning training sessions.
> 
> He gave Shado a sheepish look and she patted his shoulder before replying to Felicity with a wink, “Of course.” 
> 
> She walked away and Felicity turned to him with raised eyebrows, her arms crossed over her chest.
> 
> “I love you,” he mouthed, steering her towards the cycling studio so he could get ready for his class and help her set her bike up. 
> 
> When the class was over and he had finished catching up with a few people that had been regulars when he was teaching before, he made his way over to Felicity.
> 
> “What did you think?” he asked.
> 
> She rested a hand on his shoulder to shift her weight onto him. “I think that I’m not going to be able to walk for a week. Or sit in a chair, because my butt is killing me from the seat. But the instructor was really hot, so it was totally worth it.”
> 
> He shook his head in amusement and, since the last person had left the studio and they were alone, he dipped his head down to give her a kiss. “You did great. It was very distracting to have you here though. I didn’t want to have to pay attention to anyone else.”
> 
> “Well then, I guess it’s a good thing your job now is to just pay attention to me all the time,” she teased.

* * *

On their way out of the grocery store after acquiring the necessary supplies to try a few different pancake recipes, Oliver heard her little sigh of exasperation at the photographers they spotted across the street.

“Will they just let me live?” she grumbled.

He moved to the outside of the sidewalk so that he would be shielding her from their view and his hand came to the small of her back to guide her towards the car.

They had almost made it when he felt her start to sway, her steps suddenly shaky. 

“Felicity? You okay?”

“Yeah—“ her voice trailed off as she slumped backwards and he dropped the bag of groceries to quickly scoop her up into his arms before she fell onto the pavement.

“Felicity? _Felicity?_ ” He was met with no response and his chest tightened in panic. Fumbling for her pulse, he was relieved to feel one, albeit a little weaker than normal. As he hurried with her to the car, cursing under his breath at the photographers who were still circling like vultures, he wracked his brain for what might have caused her to pass out since she had been fine all morning. Once he got her settled into the backseat and slipped into the driver’s seat, his first instinct had him steering towards the nearby hospital.

* * *

“Dr. Schwartz, I think this is all a little bit of an overreaction,” Felicity protested after some nurses had finished fussing over her. “I just got a little lightheaded.”

“You blacked out,” Dr. Schwartz corrected her as she wrote something on her clipboard.

“Okay fine, I blacked out. But I don’t think that required a trip to the hospital,” she directed at Oliver.

She knew she couldn’t get on him about being an overprotective boyfriend when he also doubled as her bodyguard and it was literally his job to be protective of her. However, she still wasn’t happy about being dragged to the hospital. And she was _starving_ since they hadn’t managed to make it home for their pancake breakfast. 

“Well, I’m glad Mr. Queen brought you in.” 

“Why?” Oliver asked, concern lacing his voice as he stepped a little closer to her.

“Your ECG came back clear, and you seem to be in good physical health,” Dr. Schwartz reported. “So, I suspect that this incident may have been a psychogenic blackout.”

Her brow furrowed, “A psycho-what?”

_Please don’t tell me I’m going crazy._

“A psychogenic blackout. From what I’ve heard about you, it’s my understanding that you have a bit of a stress inducing lifestyle. Is that correct Miss Smoak?” Dr. Schwartz asked.

She fiddled with the sleeve of her sweater absentmindedly, “Well—“

“Yes,” Oliver answered for her and she shot him a glare.

“I have a lot on my plate,” she conceded. “But I’ve been handling it all just fine. I also got kidnapped recently, so obviously that was a little stressful, but I’m fine.”

Dr. Schwartz frowned. “I don’t think you are fine. Normal, healthy stress levels don’t cause people to lose consciousness. Have you been experiencing any other symptoms? Headaches? Muscle tension?” 

“Yes and yes,” she grumbled before Oliver would jump in and answer for her again.

Dr. Schwartz sighed, “Miss Smoak, I think you need a break.”

“I am _on_ break. That’s why I’m home.”

“But you’re still working,” Oliver pointed out.

That was true.

Her bruises had faded to faint stains and the cut on her face was now a streak of new, soft pink skin that she was hoping would heal without scarring. On the outside, her experience was a fading memory, but there were still nights where she woke from vivid nightmares. Choking on the feeling of helplessness that she had experienced when they had dragged her away from MIT, she would try to steady her breathing and remind herself of her present, safe reality.

She hated that even from prison cells a million miles away, her captors still had a grip on her. Hated the worry and guilt that were painted so clearly across Oliver’s face, visible even in the dim moonlight of her room, on nights that he spent at her house. Pouring herself into her work was the best way she knew to make sure she was exhausted enough to sleep soundly at night.

And, with Charlotte out of the picture and no chance to hire someone to take her place yet, she and Eliza had been scrambling to keep things organized. But, since she wasn’t trying to juggle school at the same time, it hadn’t been _that_ stressful. It was a nice change to be back at her Starling office and see some of her old co-workers.

She crossed her arms defensively, “Well yeah. I couldn’t just take off from my job for the entire time I’m home on break from school.”

“What about for a week? When was the last time you took even that much time off from all of your responsibilities?” Dr. Schwartz asked.

“Uhh, are you prescribing me a vacation?” she asked incredulously.

“I think that you’ve been under a lot of pressure for the last few months and, unless you want these blackouts to become a regular thing, you need to find a way to de-stress. Some time away, where you’re not tempted to go into the office, could be a really good thing for you right now while you don’t have to go to school.”

With that advice, Dr. Schwartz discharged her and left the room.

Oliver took a step closer to her then, “I know you’re not happy with me right now, and agreeing with her isn’t going to help me get back on your good side, but she _is_ right. You deserve a vacation before we go back East and everything gets crazy again.”

She reached for his hand as she stood up from the edge of the hospital bed. “I’m not mad at you. I just don’t want all the journalists who made snide comments about the dark circles under my eyes, and questioned my ability to handle all my responsibilities without cracking under the pressure—I don’t want to admit that they were right.”

“Hey.” He waited for her to meet his eyes before continuing, “They’re not right; take it from someone who’s been with you the whole time these past few months. You are more than capable of whatever you aspire to do, but everyone needs a break eventually.”

She knew there wasn’t a point in arguing with him. As soon as word of this got to her parents, there would be zero chance at resisting all three of them.

Sighing, she compromised, “Okay, a week is a really too long with all the projects I have going right now for the company, but I’m willing to agree to a long weekend. So where do you want to go?”

“What?”

“Well, if I’m going on vacation, then you are too…” She bit her lip hesitantly. Maybe it was wrong for her to assume that he would be okay with having to miss out on some of his time at home, especially since Thea was already back in school and it wasn’t like she could just invite her to join them. She supposed some members of the family detail would accompany her on her trip if he wanted to stay in Starling, but, selfishly, she wanted him. “Right?”

“Right,” he affirmed, checking the hallway before leading her out.

“Yeah? I mean, don’t feel like you have to. I don’t want to cut short your time to be home with your friends and family just because I had a mental breakdown.”

“You didn’t have a mental breakdown.” He brushed his fingers against hers inconspicuously as they made their way through the busy hallway to leave the hospital, “I would love to go with you, and not just because it’s my job. Where do you want to go?”

“No, you get to pick. I’d go anywhere with you.” She nudged him with her shoulder and lowered her voice to add, “Boyfriend.”

Now that the people who mattered most to them had expressed their happiness at them being together, things felt even more real between them. She hadn’t realized how unsecure she had been feeling in their relationship before. Not that her feelings had ever been anything less than genuine, and she hadn’t had any reason to doubt that his were either, but there had always been that underlying fear that they weren’t going to be able to make things work, despite the optimism she had tried to maintain.

He glanced over at her with a smile and she knew he felt the same way. They had had a game night with Tommy and Thea the other night and he had given her one of his dimple-y grins when Tommy referred to her as his girlfriend.

 _“Your girlfriend, the wealthiest one among us might I add, is going to go home with all of our money,”_ he had lamented after she had repeatedly bested them in poker.

She had treated them all to a full course dinner at Table Salt the following night to share her victory earnings.

“You know that photo in your bedroom of you and your mom sitting on the edge of a pool with palm trees and a beach behind you?” Oliver asked.

She tilted her head, trying to picture the one he was referring to. “Yeah… I think I’m like six years old in that picture.”

“And really cute, so your theory that you were not a cute first grader is wrong.”

Her brow crinkled, “When did I say that?”

“When you were telling me about how you met Sara.”

They had made it out to the car and Felicity was glad Oliver had had the foresight to park outside a discreet back entrance so she wouldn’t be mobbed my press inquiring about why she had been at the hospital. “Wasn’t that like months ago? How do you still remember that?”

He shrugged as he opened her door, “I have a good memory.”

“Apparently.” She begrudgingly slid into the backseat, knowing that putting on appearances was something that she had agreed to, even if it was sometimes annoying. Like when she wanted to sit in the passenger seat and hold his hand while they were driving places.  

“Where was that picture taken?” Oliver asked as he navigated them out of the parking lot.

“Bali. It was one of the first extravagant trips we took as a family after starting the company. I don’t remember much from that trip in particular, but we’ve since purchased our own villa so we’ve been back many times. It’s absolutely gorgeous there, and very peaceful.”

{[See a picture of the villa](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/882698843795664897)}

“Sounds like a good place for a stress-free vacation,” he mused. 

“Oh definitely.” It was also very private. They wouldn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances for anyone there.

He met her eyes in the rearview mirror and smiled, “Then I guess I better make sure my passport is up to date.”

* * *

**THURSDAY**

“We’re getting ready to head to the airport,” she informed her father, peeking her head into his study where he was working at his computer.

“Have a good time sweetheart. Enjoy some relaxation. Leave that file with the R&D proposition at home.”

She narrowed her eyes, “How did you know I packed that?”

Curtis had put together a proposition for expanding the company with a Research and Development department, and she had been planning on reading it on the plane. Discreetly. So Oliver wouldn’t yell at her. She knew that the point of this trip was for her to take time off from working to de-stress, but it was hard when she was so passionate about her job.

He gave her a knowing smile, “I know you’re excited about this, but it will be waiting for you when you get back.”

“Fine,” she sighed. She was about to leave the room to go find her mom to say goodbye, but then she realized that she couldn’t leave without talking to him about something that had been on her mind a lot lately. It was a conversation she had been putting off, but one she needed to have in order to have closure on everything that had happened with Charlotte and her cronies. “You recognized her at Thanksgiving dinner, didn’t you? Charlotte.”

Surprise flickered across his face at her change of subject and he took a deep breath before responding. “I didn’t know he had a daughter. In our line of work, you didn’t exactly share personal information like that that could be used against you, even with someone you considered a friend.” She knew that was true. After all, that was the reason he had left her mom when she was pregnant with her after someone discovered his identity and he didn’t want them to connect the dots to his family. “When I saw her, I convinced myself I was just imagining things, but she resembles him a lot, especially in the eyes.”

She fiddled with the little gold rings stacked on her fingers, “Would—would you have made a different decision if you knew he had a family like you?”

“A different decision about what?”

“Turning him in to the Feds.”

“Felicity… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She looked up at him, “Charlotte said her father told her that you turned him in as part of your immunity deal.”

Her father laughed dryly, “Is that what he thinks? I wanted him to get out like I did, help me start the company. I promise you, I had nothing to do with him getting caught.”

“Really?” She had inherited her mom’s innate lie detector and knew he was telling the truth, but it was still crazy to think that her whole ordeal had been the result of a misunderstanding.

“Really. But I am sorry that you got hurt because I used to be the kind of person who someone could believe would betray him like that.” 

“It’s okay Dad.” She shrugged. “I never knew that person anyway.”

Now that she had heard his side of the story, she suddenly felt so much better. She hadn’t even realized that, for the past few weeks, some part of her had been feeling guilty about what had happened to Charlotte and her mom. She had been feeling like the life she had with her family had come at the expense of the life they could have had. Knowing that her father hadn’t had anything to do with Charlotte’s father going to prison lifted that burden off of her. 

Her dad stood up to give her a hug and then they found themselves in a group hug with her mom who squeezed her tightly. “There you are. Oliver just got here and I wanted to say goodbye before you left.”

The three of them pulled apart and her mom gave her another hug, whispering in her ear, “Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Enjoy the master suite. And the pool. And the private beach. If you know what I mean.”  

She started to grumble in protest and her mom just winked before ushering her out the door of the study to meet Oliver in the foyer.

* * *

**FRIDAY**

“You feeling stress free now?” he asked, leaning on the edge of the pool to look up at her reclining on a lounge chair on the deck. It was the evening of their second day in Bali and, after the hectic pace of their life the past few months, it had been nice to just spend their time relaxing without having anywhere they had to be or anything they had to do. 

{[See Felicity's swimsuit (the purple one piece)](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/884223263265738752)}

“Most definitely.” She came over to sit on the edge of the pool and dangle her feet into the water. “I can’t believe I actually tried to fight going on this vacation.”

Coming to stand between her legs, he slid his hands up her thighs. “Yeah, for a certified genius that wasn’t very smart of you,” he teased.

Reaching her hand into the pool, she splashed him in retaliation.

He lifted an eyebrow, “Oh are you sure you want to start that?”

Before she could escape, he pulled her into the pool and dunked her under the water. She shrieked and shook her head, her ponytail spraying water. They went back and forth splashing each other until they were both out of breath and she called for a truce.

Smoothing her hands over his chest, she asked, “Were you always like this?”

“Always like what?”

She prodded him with her pointer finger, “So muscle-y.”

“Yes, I came out of the womb like this actually. The doctors were baffled.”

She shot him an exasperated look and he grinned, tugging on one of her damp curls that had fallen out of her ponytail.

That grin slid off his face and his breath hitched as she trailed her fingers lower, tracing the v that disappeared into his swim trunks before hooking her fingers into the waistband and tugging him closer.

“I don’t want to take things slow with you anymore,” she whispered, looking up at him with eyes that had turned a deeper shade of blue, sparkling with water droplets that were caught on her eyelashes.

Mesmerized, he watched as she started to unlace the front of her swimsuit, the sunset reflecting off the pool making her skin glow. When his brain finally processed what was happening, he asked, “Are you sure?”

She nodded and started to pull one of the straps down over her shoulder, “I’m sure.”

He reached for her wrists to stop her, “No.” Confusion and hurt flickered across her face and he hastily amended, “I mean, yes.” He brought her arms up to wrap around his neck and then encircled her waist to pull her against his body. “Yes,” he sighed against her neck, leaving a kiss there before resting his forehead against hers. “Just not here.”

She pouted, “Why not?”

He laughed softly at the impatience in her voice. “Pool sex has its merits but it’s not exactly how I imagined our first time. Especially since a big, comfortable bed is less than 50 feet away.” Lifting her up, he started to walk them towards the edge of the pool. His voice deepened, “And I want you to be comfortable. Because I intend on taking my time making love to you.”

He wanted to memorize every inch of her soft skin and learn the way his name sounded tumbling from her lips while he brought her pleasure. She was trusting him, with her heart and her body, and he wanted this to be perfect for her.

Her eyes were closed but he felt her chest rise and fall heavily against his before she breathed out, “Oh. Okay.” When her eyes fluttered open they were impossibly darker and he kissed her soundly for a few moments before helping her climb out of the pool. 

Grabbing one of the fluffy white towels, he wrapped it around her so she could dry off. Anticipation hummed through his body as he reached for his own towel. As much as he wanted to carry her straight into the bedroom, he had a feeling neither of them would be happy to wake up the next morning in a damp bed.  

“Oliver?”

He turned back around to face her, “Yeah?”

“Is there a reason you’re stalling?”

“Well I—I just didn’t want to get the bed all wet and—“

She rolled her eyes, “Oh Oliver. There’s multiple beds in this house. If we wreck one mattress it’s not the end of the world.”

That was all the permission he needed.

Dropping his towel, he closed the distance between them in an instant and lifted her up to carry her inside.

* * *

* * *

Sinking her teeth into her bottom lip, she watched as Oliver hovered over her with an intent expression and finished the job she had started of unlacing the front of her swimsuit. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

_Okay. We’re doing this. This is happening._

Sara’s pep talk the night of the holiday party had given her the boost of confidence she needed, but even though she felt ready to take this step with him, she still couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

“Oliver!” she exclaimed in surprised when he suddenly ripped the rest of her suit apart and tossed it to the floor.

“Sorry,” he remarked, entirely unapologetically. “This was taking too long, and besides, you have other suits packed.”

She pouted, “I liked this one. And I thought you said you were going to take your time.”

Dropping his head to kiss her, he muttered against her lips, “I am. With the less boring parts.”

When he pulled back he kneeled on the bed and looked down at her. She fought the urge to dip her head shyly and instead met his heated gaze. A blush spread across her skin, but the look on his face made any last bit of self-consciousness she was feeling dissipate.

“You’re gorgeous,” he breathed out, his hands skimming down her sides. It was the barest of touches and yet it sent a shiver of anticipation through her.

She reached up to run her fingers down his forearm, “Kiss me.”

“Where?” he asked, already leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek. “Here?” He kissed her collarbone. “Or here?” Her toes curled as his lips moved down to kiss a trail over top of her breasts.

“There is fine,” she mumbled, closing her eyes. “Anywhere is good, really.”  

She could feel his smile against her skin before he continued to slowly move down her body, varying his kisses between feather-light and open-mouthed ones that she had a feeling were going to leave marks. When he got down to her left hipbone, he stopped abruptly and she groaned in protest as she opened her eyes to see him back away.

“Patience,” he whispered, his eyes sparkling with amusement before his mouth captured her bottom lip and gently soothed over where she had been biting it.

Sliding his hands up her calves, he shifted her legs apart to softly kiss the inside of her thigh. When he settled in between her legs, warmth spread across her skin and desire pooled low in her belly as he continued to tease her with little kisses everywhere but where she needed him.

At her frustrated huff he looked up at her with a mischievous grin. “Something I can help you with Miss Smoak?”

“Why yes Mr. Queen, there--“ Her words died on her lips at the low growl that rumbled in his throat, and he slid his hands under her thighs to lift her hips and open her up to him further. When he finally brought his mouth to the apex of her thighs, his rough stubble brushed against her delicate, sensitive skin and she gasped at the sensation. Tangling her fingers in his hair, her mind went blank as she became completely focused on the way he was making her feel with his skillful ministrations, and her hips began to rock against him on their own volition.

It wasn’t long before he had her shouting his name and a whole slew of incoherent nonsense as her whole body was flooded with waves of intense pleasure.

When she finally sunk back down into the mattress breathlessly, he continued to lavish her inner thighs with gentle kisses and she eventually managed to sigh, “That was nice.”

“Nice?” he echoed, sitting up and pretending to look offended.

“Very nice? Sorry…” She waved her hand dismissively. “My brain’s really not capable of doing adjectives again yet.”

He smirked and traced random patterns along her stomach with his fingertips, “I can take that as a compliment.”

“You should. Not that I have any experiences to compare with, but you’re _really_ good at that.” He leaned down to kiss her and when he pulled back, she added teasingly, “And I’m sorry for calling you Mr. Queen, I know you said it makes you feel like an old man.”

“Well… given the context, it was actually pretty sexy, so I’ll let it slide,” he bantered back.

She blushed, “Noted.” Reaching up to tug on his waistband, she asked, “Now why are you still wearing these? As amazing as that was, I want all of you.”

While he removed his swim trunks, she rolled over to open the drawer in the bedside table and pull out the box of condoms that her mom had (not very) subtly hinted was stashed there.

Handing him one of the foil packets, she took in his naked body and arched one of her eyebrows appreciatively. “Would you say you are a typical example of your sex?”

His brow furrowed in confusion, “What?” She gave him a second to remember the scene from the movie they had watched on the plane ride and saw on his face the moment the reference clicked. He grinned smugly, “I think you’re well aware that I’m above average.”

“I guess so,” she acquiesced before returning his grin and reaching out to run a hand along his muscular thigh. “I remember being mad that John had hired someone so attractive because it was distracting me from my intention to ignore you.”

“A lot has changed in the past nine months,” he remarked as he shifted her so he could settle between her legs.

Closing her eyes, she exhaled, “That’s for sure.”   

A mix of desire and nervousness coursed through her as her body started to tense up in expectation of him being inside of her and the initial discomfort that was likely to cause.

Hovering over her, he smoothed over the crinkle in between her eyebrows with his fingers before pressing a delicate kiss there. “You alright?”

She opened her eyes and nodded, “Mhmm. Just—please be gentle.”

“Of course,” he promised, intertwining their fingers and waiting for her to relax before he proceeded. “I love you.”

Squeezing his hands, she replied softly with a small smile, “I love you too.”

* * *

* * *

“So… that happened,” she remarked, coming out of the bathroom in her robe after taking a shower.  

He propped himself up on his forearms to look at her. “I’m glad it did.”

Smiling, she walked over to the side of the bed and leaned in to caress his face and give him a chaste kiss. “Me too.”

She moved away and he watched silently as she dug through his suitcase to pull out one of his t-shirts before slipping off her robe and changing into it.

When she returned to bed, she snuggled up against his side, her legs tangling with his and her head resting against his chest. They laid there silently for a second before she looked up at him and frowned, “The bed is a little wet.”

He huffed in amusement, “You were the one who didn’t want to wait like five minutes to dry off after we got out of the pool.”

“True. But can you blame me? And you didn’t put up much of a fight.” Sitting up, she grabbed his hands. “C’mon, I have an idea.”

Obliging her, he climbed out of bed and helped her gather up pillows and a spare blanket that they hadn’t dripped water all over. She led him outside and over to the outdoor bed on the pool deck and they settled in to fall asleep under the stars.

* * *

 

**SATURDAY**

“So are you excited to start your online classes?” She asked as they walked down the empty beach, hand in hand, a warm breeze tickling her face. It was their last full day in Bali and she was trying not to think about everything that was waiting for her when she got home, but she couldn’t help it. “Less than two weeks left until both of our semesters start.”

{[See Felicity's swimsuit (the white and green bikini)](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/884223263265738752)}

“I am excited. I never thought I would finish school when I left, but a lot has changed in the past four and half years, _I’ve changed_ , and I’m glad I’m doing this for myself.”

“I’m happy for you. And…” She nudged him with her shoulder. “—if you need a study buddy, you know where to find me.”

“I don’t exactly think we’re going to be taking the same kind of classes, tutor might be more accurate than study buddy.”

“Whatever you need. You’re always taking care of me, I want to be there for you with this.”  

He paused their walk and turned to face her, wrapping his arms around her waist, “You’re the one who encouraged me to enroll in the first place.”

“I know—I just, sometimes I feel like our relationship is a little one-sided. You’re always doing nice things for me and I’m always so busy and focused on all the stuff I have to do and—“

He interrupted her with a kiss, sliding his hand into her hair to tilt her head so he could slant his mouth over hers.

“I enjoy taking care of the people I love,” he assured her when he pulled away. “Behind every successful woman is a man making her breakfast and giving her back rubs, right?”

He winked and she laughed, “Yeah, I think the saying goes something like that.”

“Besides—” He encircled her waist with his arms, his hands splaying out over her lower back. “—Let’s not forget that you went to a baseball game with me even though you could care less about sports, surprised me with a visit from my family on Thanksgiving, and have made me happier than I’ve been in my entire life.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “I guess I’m not the worst girlfriend ever.”

Shaking his head in amusement, he slid his hands down to lift her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he kissed her.

* * *

**SUNDAY**

When they landed in Starling, she turned her phone back on for the first time since leaving on vacation and her brow furrowed at the amount of texts, missed calls, and news alerts that started to pop up on the screen.  

“Oh frack,” she whispered, reading one of the headlines.

_“Bodyguard with Benefits?”_

Swiping open the story, she winced at the sight of the picture displayed at the top of her and Oliver walking along the beach and holding hands yesterday evening. The one below it was of them kissing and her legs were wrapped around his waist and his hands were on her ass and… mortification flooded her at the fact that an intimate moment between them was being put on display like this. She didn’t even want to scroll down to read the accompanying story.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked when she stayed firmly glued to her seat after the pilot called for them to disembark.

“We can’t go out there.” Tears started to roll down her cheeks despite her best efforts to blink them away, and he kneeled in front of her to meet her eyes.  

He gently brushed away some of her tears with the back of his hand, “Felicity, talk to me. What just happened?”

She showed him her phone, watching as his jaw twitched and he swallowed.

Her voice was small when she asked, “What are we going to do?”

Exhaling, he stood up and raked a hand through his hair, “I don’t know.”

His phone started to ring and whoever was calling must have been someone he couldn’t just ignore because he stepped away to answer it with a grimace on his face. Meanwhile, she dialed for the person she needed most at the moment.

“Hey, welcome back! Congratulations, you’ve finally had your first public scandal! You’re a real trust fund baby now,” Sara teased as soon as she picked up.

“Not helpful,” she grumbled. “This is a crisis situation.”

“Sorry,” she apologized sincerely. “But, I think considering this a crisis is a little dramatic. It’s not like you’re naked in any of the pictures, or you were caught doing drugs. Really, as far as scandalous behavior goes, this is not a big deal.”

“I have a feeling it is to everyone we just promised less than a month ago that we would keep our relationship a secret.”

There were voicemails from her parents and John and she was not ready to listen to them yet. Hopefully whoever Oliver was on the phone with wasn’t yelling at him.

“Felicity this isn’t your fault. You were on a private beach and a million miles away from home. There was no reason for you to think you would have to worry about paparazzi. But…” Sara continued hesitantly, “Ever since your CatCo cover and all the attention you got in New York, more people recognize you outside of Starling so…”

“So it is my fault,” she lamented.

“No it’s not,” Sara repeated firmly. “All I’m saying is that you’re even more of a celebrity now, so keeping secrets is hard. You’re lucky that you and Oliver managed to keep things under wraps for as long as you did. I mean, the actors that I work with on the show have to deal with this invasion of privacy crap all the time. It sucks, but they wouldn’t want to give up their dream job just because people are annoying. You just have to remember all the good things that have come from putting yourself out there and wanting to inspire people.”

“Yes, I’m sure all mothers will want me to be their daughters’ role models now.”  

Her biggest fear when she had agreed to Cat Grant’s offer was manifesting itself. The whole purpose of this vacation had been for her to de-stress and within seconds of it being over she already had a lot to stress about again.

“Why not? You didn’t do anything wrong. You were enjoying a vacation with your boyfriend. You’re in a healthy, supportive relationship. The only way those pictures are going to affect your reputation is if you don’t say anything and just let other people control the narrative,” Sara assured her. “Trust me, I know you’re panicking right now because this all just hit you at once, but it’s going to be fine. Take a deep breath, don’t look at any more of the articles because that’s just going to make you more upset, and then figure out how you want to handle this. Also, you should at least appreciate the fact that both of you look super hot in the pictures and there’s no way you’re going to end up on the cover of one of those trashy gas station magazines for “beach body fails.”

“Great. Thank you. That makes me feel so much better,” she replied sarcastically, even though she was actually starting to feel better about the situation thanks to her.

She _had_ always wanted the freedom to act like Oliver’s girlfriend not just when they were behind closed doors. Although she had been thinking more _hand holding_ and less _public make-out sessions_ , now that they had been seen doing all of the above, there certainly wasn’t any reason to keep up any sort of strictly professional appearances in public. So maybe there was a silver lining to this. As long as this incident didn’t put Oliver’s employment in jeopardy, of course. He had finished his phone call and was waiting expectantly for her, so she wrapped things up with Sara. “I’ve got to go, but truly, thank you for the advice. I will call you back asap with vacation details once I’m done dealing with the fact that the entire internet knows too many of them.”

“Okay. I will be waiting on pins and needles to hear the juicy details of Oliver and Felicity’s sexcation.”

Her eyes widened, _“Our what?”_

Sara laughed nervously. “I told you not to read the articles, right? Don’t read the articles. Okay bye!”

Groaning, she resisted the urge to throw her phone across the cabin of the plane and instead looked up at Oliver to ask as calmly as she could manage, “Who were you talking to?”

“John. He was notifying me that a car is waiting for you right outside on the tarmac and the press is being kept at bay. So, it’s safe to get off the plane if you’re ready.”    

She nodded and stood up, “Okay.” Reaching for his hand, she squeezed it encouragingly, “I’m ready.”

They quickly made it to the car without incident and, sliding into the back seat, she startled to find that it wasn’t empty.

“Mom. Hi…” She had the partition up and she was suddenly nervous it was so that she could chastise her for being careless without Oliver and the driver hearing.

“Hi honey. I would ask if you had a good vacation—“ She patted her thigh. “—but I think everyone knows that you did.”

She cringed, “Sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing to me?”

“Because we were supposed to keep our relationship a secret and now it’s not and—“

“I never asked you to keep your relationship with Oliver a secret, that was your idea,” her mom pointed out.

Oh. Right.

So maybe she wasn’t getting in trouble with her.

“Okay, but that’s because it was the only way we could convince John to let Oliver keep his position as my bodyguard. We had to keep things looking professional and we failed pretty spectacularly at that.” She looked over at her mom. “I can’t lose Oliver. I can’t go back to New York without him.”

“You’re not going to. Your father and I hired you a bodyguard, we’re the ones who pay the check. Even if John lets Oliver go from his firm for violating his contract, which I don’t think he’s going to do because, despite his initial reaction, he adores you and wouldn’t want to do anything to make you resent him—but, even if he does, we can just hire Oliver right back independently of a security firm. It’s no big deal. You’re keeping him as your bodyguard no matter what, so don’t worry about that.”

Relief flooded her at her mom’s reassurances. “So, you’re really okay with me openly dating my bodyguard who’s seven years older than me?”

“I am more than okay with you dating a good man who’s responsible and trustworthy and treats you right. As a mother, that’s what I care most about, and I know your father feels the same way.”  

She leaned her head against her shoulder, “Thanks Mom. I love you.”

“I love you too baby.”

As soon as she arrived home and had talked to Oliver briefly about what she had discussed with her mom in the car, she went up to her room to make a call. Sara had told her she needed to take control of the narrative, and she knew exactly the person to help her with that.

“Ms. Grant?—“ “Right, sorry. _Cat_. Hopefully I caught you at a good time—“ “Oh. Okay. Well, the reason I’m calling is because, in light of recent events, I was wondering if CatCo Magazine would be interested in getting the _official_ scoop on my love life…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check back on Wednesday for the epilogue :D


	24. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok friends, this is officially the conclusion to this fic!! It's both exciting and sad to be wrapping things up after 7 months of writing this 'verse. I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through those months, your feedback and encouragement is what helps me get to the finish line ❤︎ I hope you enjoy this last little peek into their lives..... and the sneak peek at my next AU that's waiting for you at the bottom ;)

_Five years later…_

Oliver concluded briefing the guys who were going to be working event security for the concert that weekend and then swung by John’s office on his way out for the evening.

“Hey man,” John greeted him, looking up from a stack of paperwork. “Have you taken a look at the list I sent you of guys who applied for the opening in the mayor’s detail?”

He nodded, “Yeah. I’ve scheduled interviews for tomorrow afternoon with some of them.”

“Good. Let me know what you’re thinking after you talk to them.”

“I will,” he replied. Absentmindedly, he reached into his pocket for what might be the hundredth time that day to reassure himself that the small velvet box was still there.

“Tonight’s the night, isn’t it?” John asked with a knowing smile.

As soon as they had moved back to Starling following her graduation almost a year ago, he had bought a ring and had every intention of proposing right away. But, with him taking a leadership role at the security firm and a new guy taking his place as her bodyguard, he thought maybe he should give them some time to settle in to their new relationship dynamic. Some time to figure out what it was like between them when it was no longer a necessity for them to be together 24/7, before he popped the question. Things had been going well though, maybe even better now that he could just focus on being her boyfriend, and he couldn’t wait any longer. They had had their ups and downs over the past few years, especially as they dealt with the complications of their situation, but his love for her had only grown and he couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life with anyone else.

He shifted on his feet nervously, “It is. I’m going to pick her up from work now. I reserved the private dining room at Carrado’s so the news doesn’t get out before she wants it to.” He had contemplated cooking for her instead of going out, but things had been insanely busy at work, so he settled for taking her out to her favorite restaurant for dinner and making her a celebratory breakfast in bed the next morning. At least, he hoped they would be eating celebratory breakfast in bed. Frowning, he added, “And also to save me from public embarrassment if she says no.”

John shook his head in amusement, “She’s not going to say no.”

He caught sight of the clock above his desk and realized he needed to get going. “Well, I’ve got to go. Let’s hope you’re right.”

“Good luck!”

Upon arriving at the Smoak & Kuttler building, he made his way up to the executive floor to head towards her office. Approaching the reception area, his raised an eyebrow at the interaction he encountered.

“Roy, don’t flirt with the interns, it’s unprofessional.”

They both froze and Thea looked over at him to roll her eyes, “Seriously Ollie? We were just talking. And should you really be the one lecturing him on professional behavior?” Walking past him to head for the elevator, she tossed over her shoulder with a teasing smile and a wink, “As far as I know, he hasn’t slept with his client yet. You should be glad for that, right? Good luck tonight!”

He shook his head at her, muttering a “thanks,” before turning his attention to Roy who was shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

He placed a hand on his shoulder. “I was just messing with you.” With narrowed eyes, he added, “ _Mostly._ ” Thea might be twenty now, but he hadn’t outgrown being her protective older brother. Tilting his head towards the door he was posted outside of, he asked, “Is she in her office?”

Relief passed over his face and he nodded, “Yeah. She’s still in her interview, but I’m sure they’ll be wrapping up soon.”

* * *

“As much as I loved the years that I spent in New York, Starling City is home and I always intended to return after I graduated from MIT,” Felicity replied in response to Iris’ question.

CatCo Magazine was doing an updated cover feature on her and it had been a nice surprise when she found out that the writer assigned to the article was her friend, who was still occasionally freelancing for the magazine even after getting a job at CCPN. It had given them a chance to catch up as Iris asked her about all the things she had going on in her life at the moment. In addition to her role at the family company, she had been championing an initiative with businesses in the city to provide internships for girls from the local high schools that were interested in exploring potential opportunities in STEM fields. And, she had also started teaching coding classes at the local Boys and Girls club.

Needless to say, she was as busy as always. But it was a good busy, because she was doing the things that she was so passionate about.

On top of her gym sessions with Oliver, she had taken up yoga to help her zen out instead of black out when things got stressful.

Iris nodded, “I completely understand. There’s no place like home. I thought maybe I’d stay in New York or move to National City after graduation, but I inevitably found my way back to Central City.”

“Yeah and I’m sure the boy who put those diamonds on your left hand had nothing to do with that decision,” she teased.

Iris lifted up her hand to show off her engagement ring and smiled, before looking at it herself and remarking with a laugh, “Seems like just yesterday I was trying to play matchmaker for you two.”

“Oh, I knew within five minutes of that dinner that I was the one who was really the third wheel.”

“So, what about your love life?” Iris leaned in to ask. “Things still going well with your man?”

Arching her eyebrow, she asked, “Do you want to know as my friend or as the journalist writing an article about me?”

Iris grinned, “Both. You know the readers of CatCo magazine have always been interested in the official scoop on you love life.”

She shook her head in amusement, “Well, he isn’t getting paid to hang out with me anymore and he’s still stuck around, so I would say that’s probably a good sign.” Looking down at Iris’ ring, she sighed longingly, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I like to think that we’ll be spending it together.”

* * *

_“I don’t know what the future holds, but I like to think that we’ll be spending it together.”_

Oliver smiled at that, leaning up against the door frame of her office, his presence unbeknownst to her.

Iris looked up and caught his eye, “Speak of the devil…”

Felicity twisted around on the couch to look at him. “Oh! Is it already that late? We’ve been so busy chatting I hadn’t been paying attention to the time.” She turned her attention back to Iris, “We have dinner reservations in like 30 minutes, do you have everything you need for the article?”

“More than enough.” Iris gathered up her things, “Have fun on your date. It was really good to see you again.”

“Yes!” Felicity agreed and the two girls hugged. “We need to not let as much time go by in between visits.”

“Agreed. Although between a bridal shower, a bachelorette party, and a wedding, we’ll be seeing each other a lot in the upcoming months.” 

He froze.

_How—_

For a second he thought that Felicity had found the ring at some point when it was hiding in a drawer at his apartment, but catching sight of the sparkly ring on Iris’ finger, he exhaled in relief. She was referring to her own wedding.

Tonight was still going to be a complete surprise for Felicity… and hearing what she had said to Iris boosted his confidence that it was going to be a welcome one.

After Iris waved goodbye to him and left the office, Felicity walked over to give him a kiss. “Give me like five minutes to change and then I’ll be ready, okay?”

“You’re already dressed nicely…”

“I know.” She patted his chest. “But I got a new dress the other day that’s just been waiting for a chance to be worn.” Grabbing the garment bag that was hanging on her bathroom door, she repeated “five minutes” and disappeared inside.

Taking a seat on one of her couches, his hand going to his pocket to wrap his fingers around the box, he waited for her to reemerge. When she stepped out, she was wearing a pale blue dress that was definitely worth waiting for her to change into. He quickly stood up and made his way over to her to caress her exposed shoulders.

{[See Felicity's Dress here](https://twitter.com/mogirl97/status/884850911515992065)}

“Wow.” He drew one of her hands up to his lips to press a kiss to her fingers. “You look incredible.”

She smiled. “That’s the reaction I was hoping for. Now we can go.”

Walking out of her office, he tossed over his shoulder at Roy, “You can take the night off. I promise I won’t take my eyes off of her.”

The young man paused his silent pursuit of them. “Oh. Okay.”

Felicity waved goodbye to him, “I’ll see you tomorrow Roy. Have a good evening.”

When they were out of his earshot, Oliver remarked, “I think he has a crush on my sister.”

“Oh it’s mutual. Thea is outside my office multiple times a day to—“ She made air quotes, “Check in and see if she can do anything for me.” He shook his head and she added, “She’s been very helpful. I should put more cute boys outside my office to motivate my interns.”

He sighed, “Well, at least he’s a good guy.”

“I would hope you think so, seeing as you picked him as your replacement,” she teased.

He had pored over nearly 50 applications for his former position, in pursuit of the perfect person to take over the responsibility for keeping her safe. So far, Roy had proven himself to be the right choice.

Downstairs, they slipped out the back entrance to where he had parked his car and he opened her door for her. The passenger seat door.

Did he mention how much he liked that she was just his girlfriend— _hopefully soon to be fiancé_ —now?

Even after their relationship was public, he had still followed certain professional protocol as her bodyguard, but he didn’t have to worry about any of that now.

Sliding into his own seat, he reached over for her left hand to intertwine their fingers in her lap as he drove them through the city to the restaurant.

* * *

Felicity blinked her eyes open sleepily and smiled as the morning light streaming in through the window made the diamond on her left ring finger sparkle. That smile quickly turned to a frown when she realized that her fiancé was not in bed with her.

“Oliver?” she inquired, propping herself up on her forearms. “Where’d you go babe?”

A second later he peeked his head in the doorway, “I’m bringing you breakfast in bed, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” She sunk back down into the mattress with a grin and looked at her ring again.

The proposal had come as a complete surprise, even though she had thought something was up when the hostess had led them back to the private dining room for their date. She was grateful for his foresight in reserving it for them though. A quick check at her phone on the bedside table and the lack of news alerts on the home screen indicated that no one had caught wind of their engagement yet. People would find out soon enough, if there was one thing she had learned over the years it was that not much stayed a secret from the paparazzi for long, but it was nice to be able to keep the excitement to themselves for even just a few short hours.

Oliver returned then with a tray containing fruit and coffee and cinnamon rolls. Looking down on her from the edge of the bed, he remarked, “You wearing nothing but your ring is my new favorite look.”

She sprawled out on the sheets and gave him a flirty smile, “Get used to it.”

Setting the breakfast tray on the bedside table, he crawled over top of her to give her a kiss. “It’s still sinking in,” he whispered against her lips.

“We should start looking for our own place,” she pointed out, running her hands up and down his back as he hovered over her. When they had moved back to Starling, she had just ended up back at the mansion with her family and him at his old apartment with Tommy out of convenience. In the beginning, she had thought (for some unknown reason) that it might be a good thing for them to take a break from living with each other, but they had pretty much alternated spending the night together at either place anyway. He had become part of her definition of home and now she was ready to have somewhere that was just theirs, like their apartment in Massachusetts had been.

“I actually have started looking,” he admitted. “I was thinking maybe you could take a late start at the office today and we could go to an open house for a place this morning?”

“Hmmm… I guess I’ll have to check in with the CEO first…” She paused for a second and then continued, “Yeah, she’s okay with that.”

Oliver laughed and rolled them over so that he was on top, peppering her face with playful kisses before capturing her mouth with his.

“Oliver?” she muttered when they were catching their breath in between kisses.

“Yeah?”

“I love you and I really love kissing you, but I also love your homemade cinnamon rolls and I’m not about to let them get cold.”

THE END.

* * *

* * *

**COMING NEXT...........**

**2+2 Equals a Family** // _A Single Parents AU_

Be sure to follow me on twitter @mogirl97 for updates on when I'm going to start posting, sneak peeks, outfit polls, and more :)

(Cover art by the lovely _[smoakqueenz](http://smoakqueenz.tumblr.com/)_  on tumblr)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love love love to hear your final thoughts on this story!!

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews literally make my day, I love to hear what you guys think! Also feel free to come chat with me over on tumblr mogirl97.tumblr.com or twitter @mogirl97 :) I'll be updating this story once a week, on Sundays.
> 
> ~Morgan


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